Police training exercises in which officers tackled volunteers playing the part of rioting East European migrants has been branded 'a breeding ground for racism'. More than a hundred college students aged 16 to 19 were drafted in for two violent scenarios. In the first exercise, they portrayed rioting football fans from the fictional Eastern European country Felacia. Insiders said Felacia was a thinly-veiled reference to Poland. The second involved impersonating an angry mob of economic migrants protesting at poor wages. Both took place in or near Peterborough, which is home to one of the biggest Polish migrant worker populations in Britain. Civil liberties organisation Liberty said yesterday: 'It makes sense for the police to better prepare for public order situations, but we wonder why it was necessary to ask these young people to pretend to be Eastern Europeans. No one wants a sensible training exercise to become a breeding ground for racism.' Last week's exercises were set up to help officers improve their handling of public order operations following accusations of heavy-handed tactics during the G20 riots in London. Codenamed Operation Iceni, they involved forces from Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Suffolk, Norfolk and Essex. Last night Chief Superintendent Nigel Sunman, of Cambridgeshire Constabulary, insisted there were no racial overtones to the exercises.
Daily Mail
