Matt Baggot Defends PSNI Flag Policing

PSNI chief constable Matt Baggot has defended the policing of the union flag protests to the NI Affairs Committee at Westminster, the BBC has reported.

Despite the number of police officers injured in the protests now totalling 129, Mr Baggott said the PSNI was right to not be "over zealous", as it could have made the situation worse.

"Had we been over zealous and just literally gone and tried to move people off the roads in a very, very robust way, my sense is that the tension was such and still remains such that we might have ended up with 10,000 on the streets, 20,000 on the street or perhaps even more on the street," he said.

"Tension has been growing over the last six months in relation to other matters and the flags issue gave it a cause."

The chief constable’s comments came as the PSNI prepares a report on extra resources for the force, according to BBC Northern Ireland.

He said they would need to build on the current number of 7,000 officers in future.

Mr Baggot was referring to pressures put on the PSNI through the risk of dissident republicanism, parade-related unrest and policing the UK City of Culture events in L’Derry.

"Looking over the next two to three years and thinking of the last six months, inevitably we will need to have more police officers," he said.

He said he was "relentlessly optimistic that we will see through these problems".

(IT)