Police tactics criticised

Press, 12 April 1984, Page 10

Police tactics criticised

NZPA-Reuter London The British police have come under heavy fire from Opposition politicians over their tactics in the country’s month-old coalfield strike.

Members of the Opposition Labour Party accused them during an emergency debate in Parliament yesterday of being a political instrument of the Conservative Government in the dispute.

They attacked the police for stopping pickets from reaching picket lines and for using plainclothes officers to mingle with strikers on the picket lines. But the Home Secretary Mr Leon Britain, responsible for the police, made it clear that such tactics would continue so that miners who wished to work could do so. In its fifth week the strike, over planned pit clo-

sures and job losses, appears to have reached an impasse. About 80 per cent of the country’s 180,000 miners are on strike and have closed 122 pits. A heavy police presence at the pit heads has ensured that the other 20 per cent may work, keeping about 44 pits open. Yesterday’s debate ended' with a victory for the Government — by 321 votes to 164.