In fact, I've seen whole lines of coppers, obviously acting on orders, batoning whichever poor sods happen to be at the front of the kettle.
You really
are quite incapable of handling complex concepts, aren't you?
ORDERS to hold a line, or to clear a street, or to push a crowd back, as part of some overall strategy that there is simply no opportunity to explain the rationale for in detail to each and every individual officer.
PERSONAL DECISIONS to use batons if attacked or resisted with such force as to make the use of a baton INDIVIDUALLY justifiable.
But this is
precisely the area where I believe attention should be focused - (some) officers using INDIVIDUAL officer safety tactics in the context of a COLLECTIVE use of force by "the police" on "the crowd" for a justifiable reason. I do not believe that the individual uses of force by batoning, especially at or around the head, can possibly be justified by the same grounds as justify the collective use of force perfectly well.
As for people being at the front line -
sometimes that is because they have chosen to be there because they have chosen to attack / resist the police (in which case they are entirely the authors of their own misfortune in putting themselves in a situation in which force may be justified),
sometimes they have had ample opportunity to leave that particular area, or to move back, when things have started kicking off and, for whatever reason, they have chosen not to do so (in which case whilst not authors of their own misfortune to the same extent as the first group, they have had an opportunity to remove themselves and have failed to take it, so putting themselves at risk of being caught up in the "fog of conflict" if things kick off) and
sometimes they have simply not been able to be anywhere else as they have had no opportunity to move because of the crush of the crowd (in which case they are not the authors of their own misfortune at all). The police using force on a crowd need to do their best (and it will never be perfect) to distinguish between these groups and, wherever possible, endeavour to help those in the third group escape the situation rather than treating them all the same - if they don't want to be involved in trouble, but have no way of escaping it because of the crush, it is absolutely pointless (and probably unlawful) for the police to baton them
That the people your lot are battering and criminalising are children.
If someone who is 17 is committing crime, or using such force as to merit the lawful use of a baton in response they are criminalising themselves. Fact.
