Pictured: How water cannons can BLIND protesters as Britain considers new measures against demonstrators



Home Secretary and Met divided on using cannons during student protests

Police 'snatch squads' will also be used to arrest violent demonstrators

Thousands of students expected to demonstrate again today



A protester who was blinded by a water cannon demonstrates the horrific consequences of using high pressure hoses to control crowds.



German pensioner Dietrich Wagner, 66, was rendered unconscious and his eyes were severely damaged when he took the full force of the blast during an environmental protest in Stuttgart.

It comes as Scotland Yard insists it would be 'foolish' not to consider using cannons in Britain in the wake of last week's chaotic student fees protests.

Devastating: Dietrich Wagner was blinded after he took the full force of a water cannon during an environmental protest. We have pixelated his eyes because the injuries are so horrific

Thousands of students are again expected to descend on London today for a fresh demonstration against the cost of attending university.

Mr Wagner, a retired engineer, was injured during the Stuttgart protest in September as he tried to help others who were caught in the powerful jet of water.



At least 116 people were injured when police turned water cannons, pepper spray and batons on the crowd, who were protesting against the cutting down of trees to make way for a rail extension.

Mr Wagner said he had raised his arms and waved at police to indicate to them they should stop. But he was hit directly in the face with such force that he lost consciousness.

His eyelids were torn, the lenses of his eyes were damaged and part of his orbital bone – which encases the eye – was fractured.



'It felt like the punch of a giant boxer,' Mr Wagner told German magazine Stern.

Dangerous: Policemen use water cannons to remove environmental protesters from a park in Stuttgart, during the demonstration in which Mr Wagner was injured

Although water cannons have previously been used on the streets of Northern Ireland, Home Secretary Theresa May last night appeared to rule out their use on the British mainland.

Scotland Yard, however, appears to disagree.



Commander Bob Broadhurst, of the Metropolitan Police, said: ‘There are no current plans to use water cannon on the streets of the capital but we would be foolish if we did not take time to look at tactics such as this to see if it might be appropriate in the future.



HIGH COURT 'KETTLING' CASE

The police tactic of 'kettling' to confine protesters during public demonstrations is to be challenged at the High Court.



Leading the challenge is Bethany Shiner, 23, daughter of high-profile human rights lawyer Paul Shiner. She was was kettled in Trafalgar Sqaure during tuition fee protests last week.



Miss Shiner said: 'I was with a group of young people who behaved at all times perfectly properly and lawfully.



'We then found ourselves kettled in sub-zero temperatures. I managed to get out only because I went to the rescue of a young man who had a head wound after being hit with a police baton.



'It is outrageous that the police should resort to such tactics against all protesters, most of whom were acting peacefully.'



Her father has written to the Commissioner of the Met Police warning they will argue in court that the police are using kettling in a way that involves multiple breaches of the European Convention on Human Rights.



These include a breach of Article 5 - the right not to be unlawfully detained; Article 10 - the right to freedom of expression; and Article 11 - the right to freedom of assembly.



Their treatment was 'a matter of serious concern', he said.



At the heart of the challenge are allegations that, on Thursday, the police knew in advance all about the protest.



‘I would emphasise we will not rush in to anything and we are not in the business of knee jerk reactions. Anything we do will be carefully and fully considered to ensure the best outcome for protesters, officers and all Londoners.’

Scotland Yard also said last night that it would alter its tactics and use 60 stop and search powers 'to prevent troublemakers hijacking peaceful protests'.



On Sunday, Mrs May appeared to signal she was open to water cannon appearing on mainland streets for the first time – to combat the kind of violent protests seen during last week.



However, in Parliament yesterday Mrs May said that water cannon did not fit within British traditions of policing.



She told the Commons: ‘I don’t think anybody wants to see water cannon used on the streets of Britain because we have... a different attitude to the culture of policing here in the UK. We police by consent and it depends on that trust between the police and the public.

‘As I speak water cannon has yet to be approved as a piece of equipment that can be used by the police,' she said, adding that in England and Wales it was 'a matter for the Home Office to determine whether it is legal to use such measures'.

But she was contradicted by the Association of Chief Police Officers, which pointed out that all that was needed to use water cannons was the approval of an assistant chief constable or a commander.

In further confusion, Commander Broadhurst’s boss, Met Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson, reportedly remained opposed, fearing hoses would be result in ‘Paramilitary’ policing.

In her statement, Mrs May said the violence last week had been carried out not by a small minority but by ‘a significant number of troublemakers’.

She added: ‘Some students behaved disgracefully but the police also assess that the protests were infiltrated by organised groups of hardcore activists and street gangs bent on violence.

Disagreement: Theresa May, pictured in the Commons yesterday, appeared to rule out the use of water cannons in Britain but Commander Bob Broadhurst said they would be 'foolish' not to consider such tactics



Battle: Police and student protesters clash during last week's tuition fees demonstrations. 36 people were arrested during the fourth national protest over the issue

Chaotic: Riot police come under attack from flares during the London protests last week. Police said some protesters came armed with sticks, fireworks, stones and snooker balls

'The idea that some have advanced that police tactics were to blame, when some had come armed with sticks, flares, fireworks, stones and snooker balls, is as ridiculous as it is unfair.’

Police 'snatch squads' will also be used to arrest violent demonstrators.



The Territorial Support Group - the Met's public order containment officers - have been told they can pull offenders from the crowds and arrest them in the event of trouble.

