Police watchdog urged to probe 'heavy-handed' dispersal response
GMP previously said a dispersal order was put in place on the day in response to "intelligence" about anti-social behaviour on trains and in the city. The Traveller Movement alleged children were racially profiled by officers and excessive force was used.GMP met representatives from Romani Gypsy and Irish Traveller communities in the aftermath of the incident and expressed "regret at the distress and upset these events had caused".
'Unjustifiable'
Greater Manchester deputy mayor Kate Green previously found the dispersal order raised concerns about discrimination and could have been avoided.Ryan Bradshaw, from law firm Leigh Day which represents the Traveller Movement, said: "Our clients are hopeful that an IOPC review will expose what they believe is the clear institutional racism that led to this appalling incident."It is alleged by the charity that children were forced onto trains heading to unknown destinations, separated from their families and subjected to physical abuse and disparaging remarks about their ethnicity. Pauline Melvin-Anderson OBE from the Traveller Movement said the police response to the charity's complaint was "deeply flawed and lacks transparency".She said it was a "blatant attempt to justify the unjustifiable"."Our children were humiliated, physically harmed, and placed in vulnerable situations because of discriminatory assumptions about their communities," she said. "We will not rest until a full inquiry takes place." The Traveller Movement has called for the IOPC to step in and investigate and for GMP to apologise and disclose the "intelligence" it relied upon to justify its actions.
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