Checkpoints and water cannons coming to Manchester?

Article published: Wednesday, July 8th 2009

Yesterday Greater Manchester Police (GMP) were reported to be considering water cannons to put down riots in the city, today they announced road blockades.

Operation Tornado’ is apparently going to be used in crime hotspots around Greater Manchester, imposing checkpoints on those going in and out of the area. It’s the first time such an approach has been used in the UK outside of Northern Ireland, as Manchester once again becomes the testing ground for new police powers and innovative tactics. With ID cards coming this autumn it suddenly sounds more like Baghdad or the West Bank than Manchester. Have we come under military occupation when we weren’t looking?

According to Det Chief Supt Russ Jackson it’s going to be a “real breath of fresh air to the law-abiding citizens living in the affected areas”, and criminals will be targeted according to prior intelligence. Hopefully the intelligence won’t be coming from the Pakistani secret service via torture as with Rangzieb Ahmed. How GMP can claim that checkpoints around Greater Manchester will not indiscriminately target all residents remains a mystery.

While the rest of the country is worrying about how police tactics of mass containment of protests sits with human rights law and civil liberties, GMP seem determined to impose blanket measures to deal with crime. Increasing surveillance, attacks on civil liberties and the accountability of the police all come under scrutiny in the new print edition of Mule, available next week.

More: News, Policing

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