Local Conservatives have written to the Police and Birmingham City Council calling on both to release details of the exact threat they were concerned about in relation to the Aston Villa/Maccabi Tel Aviv football match, and the documents that were used to come to that decision. This follows a weekend of press reports suggesting that some of the evidence used was compromised.
With both protests and counter-protests now being planned, Local Conservatives are also calling for the implementation of a dispersal order encompassing Villa Park, surrounding roads, routes to public transport and the broader city centre. This measure should explicitly prohibit any threatened protests or counter-protests, thereby safeguarding residents, fans going to the match, and visitors.
Cllr Robert Alden (Con, Erdington), Leader of the Opposition & Birmingham Local Conservatives, said:
It has been reported that the Police felt unable to protect fans and residents from protests at the match. Instead of moving planned protests to a safe distance, policing them properly to avoid criminal or intimidatory behaviour, the decision was taken to ban all of the fans, the target of the protests, themselves. Brummies need to know what and who exactly did the Police feel unable to control and does this pose a wider risk to the safety of all law-abiding Brummies? Brummies need answers and that's why the evidence used by the Safety Advisory Group in this case should be released.
Cllr Alden continued:
Whilst there is a clear right to peaceful protest, the fact the police believed this posed a serious risk to public safety indicates that they did not feel those protests would be peaceful. We cannot seemingly give in to the demands of those who would cause trouble on our streets. It will make everyone in Birmingham less safe in the long run.
