One of my close mates is a detective in CID (South Yorkshire).
He was appalled at the Mets actions and just exasperated.
The police have a hard enough time earning the respect of the public, which they need in order to do their job effectively. How they handle situations like this has huge and long lasting ramifications. Who cares what the inquest found, or not. The damage has been done in the eyes and minds of the public.
He just couldn't quite get his head round the thinking of the Met.
Met office tactical meeting..
"Lets think, what'll happen if we just play it softly and let the protest carry on?"
"Well, err, not a lot really I reckon gov. I know technically, their not social distancing and shouldn't be congregating, but its all peaceful and besides, I do have some sympathy with their cause gov, I imagine it'll all end peacefully and fizzle out gov, I guess the worst outcome is there's a slim chance a few people might catch covid of one another if they got too close"
"OK, and what about if we go in all heavy handed, truncheons at the ready"
"Well gov, I can imagine there'll be a right old shit storm, the medial will be all over it. We'll look like a right bunch of cnuts and it'll just put us in a negative light gov..It'll give ammo and entrench the views of those with negative attitudes towards the police. As for the covid risk gov, I guess the risk of one of our officers picking it up and spreading it amongst us in the met leading to issues with staffing numbers as we all have to isolate increases vastly as we grapple them to ground"
"so what's the plan boss?"
"To the riot vans, helmets on, battens ready, and watch yourselves, those real housewives of Clapham have sharp nails you know"