COP26: Police promise ‘friendly’ approach to protests

Police chiefs are promising a “friendly” approach to protests during COP26, amid concerns over visiting officers after concerns were raised about a repeat of violent scenes witnessed during the G8 summit in 2005.
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Major demonstrations are expected at the United Nations climate conference later this year — with fire crews set to watch the Clyde in case protesters take to the water outside host venue SEC.

But there are fears over the policing style of officers from the rest of the UK, particularly the Metropolitan Police.

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Superintendent John McBride said activists would meet the “happy, smiling face of Police Scotland” — supported by officers from England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

He was responding to concerns raised by Cllr Graham Campbell, who asked about racial profiling and stop and search powers.

Cllr Campbell said: “I’m saying this because of my own experience at the G8 summit in 2005 when I believe Lothian and Borders [Police, dissolved in 2013] did not very well control or regulate how officers from elsewhere in the UK behaved towards people who were there.”

He added given the UK Government, and the Home Office, is the host organisation, his worry is “racialised profiling, stop and search, will be practised by officers who are used to doing those south of the border”.

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Protesters and police officers clashed in Edinburgh when the G8 summit came to Gleneagles in 2005, and there were criticisms over the role of forces from outside Scotland.

Supt McBride, who is working on planning for COP26, said officers from the rest of the UK will fall under the command of Police Scotland, and will not be involved in day to day policing.

He added stop and search powers exercised by Police Scotland are “all underwritten by legislation and we’ve got a fairly strong background of not racially profiling”.

Specially trained officers may “look for behaviours that appear to warrant someone to be searched” but that tactic will be used “only in and around the venue itself” and “very sparingly”.

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Cllr Campbell said: “Many, many thousands of people are coming to Glasgow for possibly the first time ever, I want their experience, even if they’re protesting, to be a good one and they get the friendly welcoming policing response that you’re known for.

“What I want to be clear is if there will be public pressure to be more rigorous, more forceful, I want to be clear that our existing culture will prevail.”

He asked how Glasgow could be “absolutely sure that the advice and briefing and training that the rest of the UK officers get will abide by our style of policing”.

He added: “I’m not reassured, knowing the Met. I’m not happy having Met officers marching around Glasgow unsupervised, dealing with the public.

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“If I could be reassured that they won’t be interacting with demonstrators unless they are under the command of our people, then that would be important to me.”

Supt McBride said only “specialist resources” are coming to Glasgow and they won’t attend routine calls.

“Public order is one of those specialist roles, and to give you absolute confidence, the public order command structure is entirely Police Scotland officers.

“While every officer is individually responsible for their own actions, they should be working in concert to deliver on the strategic intentions of commanders’ wishes for managing any protest and activists.”

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The climate conference — billed as “humanity’s last chance to avoid environmental apocalypse” by US climate change envoy John Kerry — runs from November 1 to November 12.

World leaders, the Pope and around 30,000 accredited attendees are expected to attend. A procession — supported by the UN — is likely to pass through the city on Saturday, November 6.

At the last COP in Madrid, organisers said half a million people marched, but Mr McBride believes there is “pretty much no way we’ll get 500,000 through Glasgow in November”.

He is expecting “probably tens of thousands”.

Supt McBride said engagement had already taken place with protest groups so there was a “no surprises approach”.

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“We will, as we have always been, ensure we’re fair, we’re friendly and accommodating.”

Senior Scottish Fire and Rescue Service officer Roddie Keith said crews would be keeping their eye on the River Clyde during the conference.

“We provide that rescue capability on the Clyde anyway, but I think the expectation is the Clyde waterway is going to be exceptionally busy over that period for lots of different reasons.

“One of those being, should you want to protest or make a point, possibly no easier or better way to do it than to sail something significantly large up the Clyde in front of the SEC.

“All sorts of safety issues are concerned with that, so we’ll be maintaining an enhanced state of readiness with our water rescue crews on the Clyde.”

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