At the risk of repeating myself...So what was this "threat" that made his actions reasonable?

Oh yeah I forgot about the deadly juice.

Gender, or more specifically size has everything to do with it.

So if it was a male bodybuilder instead it would be okay to wack him?

When is the verdict due?

Most people would be too scared to whack a male bodybuilder.

Where are you going with this? Nobody is going to object to reasonable force being used in a situation; had the sizes/genders been reversed then maybe it would be reasonable, although it would depend on what they were doing.

We can speculate all day on the what ifs, but the fact is that she wasn't a huge male body builder, she was a girl half his size and as such I fail to see how baton wielding could be considered by any normal person as 'reasonable' in this situation. It's far enough over the line of reasonable to constitute assault I think - obviously the CPS thinks so too.

Did he do wrong? No, in the circumstances, I don't necessarily think he did. He could have handled it better, but that's not the same thing as saying he was wrong. Remember - he didn't just walk up and whack a totally innocent bystander.

This woman chose to go to a protest. She chose to be vocal and antagonising. She made the mistake of viewing the copper as personification of what she was protesting about. She harangued him while he was trying to do his job and keep order. He warned her a few times, but oh no, Little Miss Lentils knew better, and whack! - she got brought back to earth.

If you go looking for trouble, don't be surprised when you find it.

I don't see what all the hand-wringing about size or gender has to do with it.

Imagine having this conversation with your parents:

"Dad, I went on a protest today and hassled a policeman, and he whacked me."

What would your Dad have said to that?

Oh come on, he whacked her two backhanders then moved closer to some other police officers, took out a truncheon and aimed at her from arms length.

What part of that is reasonable??

How many times should he have let her run up to him in that manner? Once? Twice? Ten times? All day?

i can't as she won't be appearing, thats more my point, we will never have the opportunity to know. if she had prior convictions for perjury though as you pointed out earlier this would have a bearing on her credibility.

You wait till it's something you feel strongly enough about to protest against. I personally don't think anyone deserves a beating because of a few words or because they are guilty of being very annoying - it's a protest ffs what do the cops expect is going to happen.

I think you are allowing your judgement of this girls political position to cloud your judgement.

Repeat after me.

"Sticks and stones may break my bones
But words will never hurt me"



She was at a protest about the death of someone at a previous protest. Shouting and some anger to be expected I think

So yes, All day.

Rae, you're a copper. What do you make of Smellie's defence? What would the station locker room banter be about that?

Ah, the Moderator's poem.

don't give me that cack, Iain. You know as well as I do that there are certain people who will protest about just about anything. The cause is irrelevant, it's just a jolly day out shouting at The Man.