Police vs the Speaker

Stuff reports:

Speaker Trevor Mallard’s decision to turn the sprinklers on and blast music designed to irritate protesters camped outside Parliament will only escalate the standoff, a top crisis negotiator warns, while police say it’s “not a tactic they would endorse”. …

Wellington district commander Superintendent Corrie Parnell said it was “certainly not a tactic we would encourage and certainly endorse but it is what it is”.

This is pretty extraordinary. The district Police commander has implicitly condemned what the Speaker has done, implying it has made the situation worse.

This means that later today when the PM fronts media, she is going to be asked repeatedly whose side she is on – the Police, or the Speaker.