CS GAS grenades, water cannon and plastic bullets or baton rounds are all set to be used in future London street disturbances, a Metropolitan Police report has said.
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Water cannon and baton rounds have been talked up by the Met before, but the use of CS Gas grenades is a new addition to the law and order mix, albeit only to be used as a “last resort”, according to Four Days in August, a Scotland Yard review of tactics used in last summer’s riots.
The report also reveals that the Met wanted to use both water cannon and baton rounds on rioters last year, but couldn’t get the equipment or ammunition in place in time.
“Had [a water cannon] been available for use, it would have been considered as a tactical option during this disorder,” states the report, adding that, so far as baton rounds go, “it did not prove possible to mobilise the resource quickly enough to [Croydon] to deploy at a time where its use would have been proportionate”.
