Leading Greens today responded to the refusal of the Home Secretary Theresa May to sanction use of the water cannon bought by the Mayor of London.
Shahrar Ali, Deputy Leader of the Green Party, said:
“This is welcome news to all citizens who understand the importance of peaceful protest and the meaning of policing by consent. It is ironic that whilst presiding over the most draconian anti-terror legislation in the UK, Home Secretary has seen sense to prohibit the use of water cannon as a potentially dangerous method for controlling crowds. The right to peaceful protest is a basic liberty that must be protected against the abuse of state power, of which threat or deployment of cannon is in clear breach.”
Baroness Jenny Jones, London Assembly member, said:
“The reality is that the Mayor bought second hand machines, which the Met Police said had a life expectancy of two to three years when they were assessed in 2013. It is inevitable that the next Mayor will scrap them as too old and unfit for duty, but this Mayor is trying to cover up for the original mistake by pretending that they could still be used. Londoners are now paying up to one and a half thousand pounds a month to save the Mayor the embarrassment of driving them to the scrap heap.”