The softly, softly way to unstick train protesters
THERE are some countries where protesters who clambered on top of a train would be given something stronger than safety glasses and a stern talking to from the police.
But in our health and safety-obsessed times, it is the police who must operate with extreme caution.
When this smartly-dressed blonde woman and a man in a dark suit and tie climbed on top of a carriage with a large black banner they delayed dozens of passengers on the Docklands Light Railway.
But instead of being dragged down, they smiled as specialist teams trained in ‘protest removal’ carefully put safety goggles, helmet, and harnesses on them and lowered them down gently to the platform.
They were then taken away to waiting police vans outside the Canary Wharf station. Commuters had gathered to watch as police took two hours to prise the duo and bearded Buddhist Mark Ovland, 35, from the train.
Mr Ovland, who earlier this month posed half-naked in the Commons on a climate change demo, had superglued himself to a door with a warning: ‘Do Not Pull Me’. All three were arrested and held in police custody on suspicion of disrupting the railway.