But Steven Kavanagh, the Metropolitan police deputy assistant commissioner, denied those images were a sign of the force being soft on rioters: "The Met is not namby pamby," he told the Guardian.
He added: "The face of policing has changed, 25-30 years ago it would have been a different response, we'd have gone to baton rounds and water cannon straight away. Now we are more measured."
He said the police faced contrasting demands from the public: "There are two extremes, the hang 'em and flog 'em brigade, and those who say these are frustrated youngsters."
Twenty-five years ago, Kavanagh said, officers might have "let anger get the better of themselves", and go wading in, but he said there was now a more disciplined approach, with officers not charging in as they were "holding the line" to protect firefighters putting out blazes that threatened life.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/aug/09/london-riots-police-debate-tactics
Interesante lectura sobre como está actuando la policía. Toda la razón el tal Steven Kavanagh, sobretodo en lo de que hay dos claros extremos sobre como piden actuar a la policía y sobre como los policías están demostrando ser bastante disciplinados.
PD: Al parecer los inmigrantes se están agrupando y organizando para defender sus negocios, ya leímos lo de los turcos y ahora parece que los asiáticos están haciendo tres cuartos de lo mismo. No me extrañaría que también los polacos se pusieran las pilas.