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Riot cops at school
Headteacher makes official complaint after pupil stand-off
RIOT police were called to a West Hampstead school during a flare-up between scores of rival school students on Friday.
Officers arrested eight people aged between 14 and 40 outside Hampstead School in Westbere Road.
Police said they found makeshift weapons, including bricks and chair legs embedded with nails, the day before and the following Monday in the surrounding area. But the police handling of the battle is also under scrutiny after some pupils complained of heavy handedness.
Headteacher Jacques Szemalikowski, who has only been in charge at Hampstead School in Westbere Road for three months, has filed an official complaint with the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
He said: “The students are angry because they are not used to the way the police dealt with them. The way things work in school is co-operation. The police have a lower threshold.”
Forty officers clashed with around five times as many students as trouble flared between pupils from Hampstead and teenagers thought to be from nearby Whitefield School in Barnet.
Pupils claim the strong police presence – officers on the scene were from the specialist Territorial Support Group (TSG) – made matters worse.
Many students staged a demonstration outside the school (pictured right) on Monday demanding an apology.
They have accused the police of brutality and claimed officers drew batons and hurled pupils against police vans.
Police are refusing to comment on the allegations while the IPCC and school investigate.
Mr Szemalikowski said: “I am making a representation about the incident on Friday. I have spoken to a number of senior police officers about concerns our students have.
“I’ve got teachers who’ve expressed concern. My concern is that it escalated into something quite rapidly.”
He held an emergency assembly on Monday before handing out a letter for pupils’ parents. It said: “Many of the students involved have expressed real concerns about the way it was policed – including allegations of racism and police brutality.”
During the demonstrations on Monday, teacher Leona Stephenson, head of year seven, urged students to stop disrupting lessons.
Speaking through a megaphone, she said: “You guys are undoing everything that we are trying to do for you. Yes we are vexed about racism and Friday.”
Hampstead pupil Joel Davis, 16, from Cricklewood, saw the trouble unfold. He said: “Some of the kids from Whitefield had come down with knives.
“The police arrested them and then decided not to take any chances so they started searching everyone for weapons. When the kids started not to like it they began fighting back and the police searched them forcibly.”
Hampstead pupil Sashon Martin, 15, said he was hit in the face by an officer.
Deputy head Tim Brosnan has provided a witness statement to police confirming that Sashon was hit. Sashon was arrested and later released with a warning. His father, Roy Martin, who rushed down to the school, was also arrested and charged for public disorder.
Of the other six people arrested, one was charged for public disorder offences and four were formally warned. A 14-year-old boy was found with a knife.
Last night (Wednesday) Whitefield head teacher Peter Blenkinsopp denied his students instigated the trouble. |
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