More than 35,000 people have signed a petition against police plans to buy water cannon to use against rioters in London.
The petition — to be presented at a public meeting at City Hall tonight — comes after the London Assembly voted against the Met police’s and Mayor’s proposal to spend £200,000 on three second-hand German water cannon.
Among those who voted against the scheme last Friday were four key Conservative members: Kit Malthouse, the former deputy mayor for policing, Victoria Borwick, deputy mayor, Roger Evans, the Assembly deputy chairman and James Cleverly, the chairman of the London fire authority.
The assembly said a case for the use of water cannon had not been made and urged the Mayor not to spend any money on them. Met Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe has said the cannon would be “rarely used and rarely seen”, but would be a useful, non-lethal tactic in dealing with the worst large-scale public disorder.
Police want to buy the weapon in time for any possible disorder this summer and say it is safer than batons or firing baton rounds.
Dietrich Wagner, a German pensioner who was blinded by water cannon in Stuttgart during a protest to protect trees, is due to join a protest outside City Hall before tonight’s meeting.
Petition organiser Jo Darrant said: “As with kettling, water cannon are a way of deterring peaceful protesters from direct action. What happened to Dietrich shows that water cannon are unsafe, unpredictable and their introduction is a threat to people’s safety.”
