By IRNA,
London : Separate provision to treat injured protesters and police at last week’s mass student demonstration in London resulted in protesters being denied treatment from some hospitals, it was reported Saturday.
The issue of alleged segregation arose after student protester Alfie Meadows sustained severe head injuries after apparently being hit with a police baton.
Meadows was rushed to Chelsea and Westminster hospital after collapsing from bleeding on the brain. According to his mother Susan Meadows, police attempted to prevent treatment when he arrived.
It was apparently only after a stand-off with a paramedic refusing to take the critically injured patient elsewhere that he was admitted to the hospital and underwent an emergency three-hour operation.
But following the incident, the London Ambulance Service has admitted operating a policy of segregation where injured protesters are denied treatment in certain hospitals, according to the Morning Star.
‘The practice of segregation of protesters and police/statutory service once injured in public order situations is a long-standing one and one that has been in place for many years,’ said Ambulance Service chief executive Peter Bentley.
‘It is designed to prevent the emergency department/NHS premises from becoming a further seat of disorder with protesters and police officers being in the same place,” Bentley said.
‘It prevents the potential for fighting to break out in the A&E as by definition those protesters that are injured are likely to be those at the seat of disorder,’ he was quoted saying in an email.
During last week’s protest, Chelsea and Westminster hospital was apparently designated to treat police casualties, while protesters had been taken to three other London hospitals.
Green Party member of the Metropolitan Police Authority, Jenny Jones said that the “absolute priority should be getting anyone in need of emergency medical attention to the nearest hospital.’
‘This policy seems to assume that injured protesters are troublemakers, but anyone can get hurt in large crowds,” Jones said. At least 43 protesters and 30 police were reported to have been injured at the students’ protest on December 9.
The police have also come under criticism for using controversial ‘kettling’ tactics in which thousands of students, including minors, were held for hours in Parliament Square for hours in freezing conditions and without sanitation, food and water.