The Long View - 28/07/2009

Jonathan Freedland presents the series that looks for the past behind the present. Jonathan examines the policing of demonstrations and asks what lessons can be learned in our own time from the 1855 Hyde Park disturbances. The newly established police force was criticised in Parliament and the press for using excessive force to control the crowd, goading the public and coralling the protestors into a confined space. Jonathan and guests compare that controversy with the criticisms being levelled at the police force today in light of the G20 protests.