I saw on twitter some photos purporting to be a police sniper overlooking the TUC’s March for the Alternative protest in Manchester coinciding with the Conservative party conference. Below are two of the clearest pics which appear to show a police sniper position.
This first one is presented as taken from the twitpic page therefore I have not rotated it, it has no info on it (Click to enlarge)-
From http://twitpic.com/6u6hm3 james conway @quasimentalist
Update: I have been in touch with James Conway via twitter and he took these with a Nikon D7000 using 28-300mm lens, more pictures are on his Flickr page here. Thanks to him for the info.
This pic has info that shows it is taken with an HTC desire (Click to enlarge)-
From http://twitpic.com/6u1k90 Kilby, Gemma @bestservedLOUD
Of the sniper rifles UK police use this looks most like a Riflecraft TMR1 rather than the range of Heckler & Koch rifles.
Before the protest GMP made it known-
Police have warned anyone planning to cause trouble at a trades union march in Manchester that robust action will be taken against them.
So did the security forces have at least one sniper overlooking the protest, and how often do they have snipers in place for well organised, legal and peaceful demonstrations in Britain?
Update: The Salford Star has another pic of the sniper
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Fear turns to violence when the powerful face even a modicum of resistance.
This didn’t seem to get reported in any mainstream paper, and I wonder how routine this might be becoming at protests.