‘Police could use rubber bullets on mayday rioters’

Police could resort to using rubber bullets if riots break out during the May Day demonstrations in London, the chairman of the Metropolitan Police Authority, Lord Harris, warned today.

There was the ‘‘possibility’’ that the Met would use rubber bullets against anti-capitalist demonstrators if the situation got out of hand, he said.

Police leave has been cancelled and more than 6,000 officers from the Met, City of London and British Transport Police will be deployed.

On Radio 4’s Westminster Hour, Lord Harris revealed the Met’s contingency plans.

‘‘There is the possibility of the use of rubber bullets but that would really be in extremis.

‘‘(It would be) very extreme circumstances where there were far more protesters than police anticipated and the situation had got completely out of control.

‘‘I would be very surprised indeed if we got to that situation and that will be something police throughout the day will be looking to avoid.

‘‘We are not talking about armed with firearms,’’ he added.

Lord Harris denied suggestions that police would be armed with CS gas but said it would be ‘‘much more likely’’ that officers would have their own individual sprays.

He had been in regular contact recently with Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens.

‘‘In the last few weeks we’ve been talking about two or three times a week about this particular issue.’’

Asked if the pair’s jobs were on the line, Lord Harris said: ‘‘The reality is that with all senior police officers and politicians our jobs are always on the line if something goes wrong.’’