A 'resist police violence' protest is set to take place in Cardiff after two teenagers were arrested in the city centre. At around 6.50pm on Tuesday, March 29 South Wales Police officers received a report of a street robbery on The Hayes.
Two males aged 19 and 15 were later arrested on St Mary Street on suspicion of robbery. Police say they are now on bail whilst investigations continue.
Videos of the arrest have since been circulating on social media and have been shared by people alleging the 15-year-old was searched. They also allege that despite the search seeming to result in no findings, the teenager was arrested.
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The video which is being shared does not show a search taking place, but one person - thought to be the 15-year-old later arrested - can be seen appearing to be questioned by officers and later arrested. The video does not show a second person under arrest.
A protest has since been organised alleging that the arrests of the teenagers were racially motivated and that an 'unlawful' search was carried out on the teenager given his age. An eyewitness alleged that the person arrested in the video maintained they were not involved in a robbery and were in a different part of the city from where the alleged incident occurred.
It is unclear who are the protest organisers but the Black Lives Matter Cardiff group is included on the protest flyer, as are Y Pantherod and Trans Aid Cymru.
The flyer states that the protest will take place outside Cardiff Bay Police Station on Friday April 1 at 6pm. South Wales Police were asked to comment on the allegations that the 15-year-old was searched and under what grounds an arrest was made.
The UK Government says that a police officer can only stop and search someone if they have “reasonable grounds” to suspect that person is carrying illegal drugs, a weapon, stolen property or something that could be used to commit a crime.
A spokesperson for South Wales Police responded to questions about the claims made online by people sharing the video that a 15-year-old was searched 'unlawfully' and under what grounds an arrest was made. A spokesperson for the force said: "At around 6.50pm yesterday (Tuesday, March 29) South Wales Police received a report of a street robbery on The Hayes in Cardiff city centre.
"Two males aged 19 and 15 were arrested in St Mary Street on suspicion of robbery. They are now on police bail whilst investigations continue."
In a statement later posted on social media, South Wales Police responded to the video, as well as allegations against a separate issue. Their statement said: "We’re aware of videos circulating on social media of officers in Cardiff carrying out arrests. The first was last November when officers responded to a report of a man seen on CCTV being aggressive to two women. All three were arrested on suspicion of assault.
"None of those arrested were willing to come forward with any complaints. As a result they were de-arrested and taken to their home addresses. We thank the members of the public who assisted officers at the scene by providing eye witness accounts and mobile phone footage.
"The second incident was the arrest of two males aged 15 and 19 following a street robbery on The Hayes. Both are currently on bail while the investigation continues. The actions of our officers were necessary and proportionate in response to reported crimes in our city." South Wales Police have been asked to comment on the protest.
