THE PSNI has come in for savage criticism from a leading human rights body after it emerged that officers were sent to yesterday's anti-Gaza genocide protest in London to arrest demonstrators carrying Palestine Action placards.
It's not known how many PSNI officers were sent by Chief Constable Jon Boutcher to yesterday's demo, but with a minimum of five officers required to arrest and extract a single protester, and with around 500 arrests having been made, the number is bound to have been significant.
The move has been described by Amnesty International NI as "extraordinary and disturbing".
While Mr Boutcher was happy to send officers to London at the busiest time of the week for police, he has recently been highly critical of the lack of resources available to him. Such is the crisis of numbers within the PSNI that officers from Britain were deployed here to assist in policing race riots in the summer because the PSNI lacked the numbers to cope. Mr Boutcher has been extremely vocal about the lack of resources available to him.
And the PSNI has questions to answer about its approach to illegality after it arrested non-violent demonstrators in London yesterday while back home they have stood by at – and in some cases facilitated – loyalist paramilitary shows of strength. In June last year, hundreds of members of the UVF paraded along the Newtownards Road with PSNI officers walking ahead of them to clear the way and others performing traffic duties.
ESCORT: PSNI officers at the head of a UVF show of strength in East Belfast in June 2024
On the cut in the number of officers available to him, Mr Boutcher told BBCNI: “It is quite remarkable that, because of those reductions, we’ve got any sort of police service at all."
In December past, Mr Boutcher said his force lacks the numbers needed to deal with the rising tide of violence against women and girls.
"We continue to work tirelessly to ensure that women and girls can live their lives free from fear, intimidation and harassment," he said. "But we need the officers to do this."
Yet despite his admission that he lacks the numbers to safeguard women and girls, the Chief Constable sent officers to London yesterday to carry out arrests at a peaceful demo on the day of week when domestic violence is at its height. Academic studies have shown that the rate of domestic abuse rises at the weekend, with the number of assaults on women and girls in the home peaking on Saturday evenings.
Amnesty International Head of Nations and Regions Patrick Corrigan described the sight of PSNI officers arresting demonstrators in London as "extraordinary and disturbing".
Writing on Twitter, he said: "We are repeatedly advised that the PSNI has insufficient numbers of officers. Yet here they are in London helping the Met to arrest pensioners for holding cardboard signs."
