POLICE in Greater Manchester have decided against using water cannons to quell riots. At a police authority meeting Deputy Chief Constable Simon Byrne said the tactic would not be employed by the force.

Senior GMP officers had been speaking to the Police Service of Northern Ireland as part of a fact-finding mission about the use of water to deal with problems involving large numbers of people, such as football riots.

The idea was discussed in documents dating back to November 2007 but was kept under wraps because it was feared people might think the tactic 'heavy handed'.

Issue

Responding to a question submitted to the police authority about the issue, Mr Byrne said: "There was some dialogue with Northern Ireland but there was no intention to train officers in the use of water cannon."

He said that 'as far as he was aware' the issue had not been looked into for two years, adding: "The water cannon is not an idea we are considering pursuing."

Water cannon are regarded as a symbol of oppression by some campaigners after they were turned on black people during the American civil rights movement in the 1960s.

Crowds

When the M.E.N revealed that GMP was in discussions with police in Northern Ireland, the head of the Greater Manchester Black and Asian Police Association, Charles Crichlow, criticised the move.

He described the idea of water cannon as 'grotesque' at a time when public confidence in the police was low. GMP has been examining new tactics for controlling large crowds since Rangers fans went on the rampage in Manchester city centre in May last year.

A number of officers were hurt when riots broke out after big screens showing the Uefa cup final with Zenit St Petersburg stopped working.