Students' Field Trip Riot
28 October 2010
Police deal with 'protesters' at the simulated anti-war demonstration attended by Derby students.
Colin Dyter, University Media Writing subject leader.
Journalism and Media students at the joint police forces' training exercise.
Journalism and Media students had a 'riot' on a field study trip.
The 16 Journalism, Media Writing and Media Production students took part in a joint training exercise staged by East Midlands police forces at an RAF base in Rutland; simulating an anti-war demonstration. Police regularly run the exercises to train officers on how to deal with real situations.
Derby students played the role of three camera crews, two radio reporters, and two press photographers and two reporters covering the protest. Around 80 Chesterfield College students were the 'protesters'.
Colin Dyter, Media Writing subject leader at the University, led the students on the day.
He said: "It was certainly a realistic event. The police had worked out a scenario involving a group of young people protesting about the war in Afghanistan.
"But things got out of hand when interlopers and agent provocateurs turned the peaceful demo into a full-scale riot and bomb scare, with demonstrators storming an arms depot and threatening police officers with hand grenades.
"We were not told what was planned, the students had to follow the developing story using their own initiative and observations. None of them had done anything like this before, yet they were all incredibly professional."
Broadcast Media student Belinda Basson added: "It was an amazing experience, and really opened my eyes to what the police have to train for."
A police spokesman involved with the event said the University of Derby students had, "asked some very probing questions, and put some of our officers under a lot of pressure."
The field trip group students are currently working on putting the day's video footage, photographs, audio and reports together for a special news broadcast.
