In an interview on Sunday the head of Britain's police watchdog called for a national debate on how officers maintain public order following a flood of complaints over the G20 protests.

Nick Hardwick, chairman of the Independent Police Complaints Commission, told The Observer newspaper that officers needed to remember that they were "servants, not masters" of the people.

The IPCC has received nearly 90 complaints about the use of force at the protests in London earlier this month surrounding the Group of 20 summit of world leaders in the British capital.

The IPCC is already investigating three instances, including the death of newspaper seller Ian Tomlinson, 47, who was walking through the protest zone by the Bank of England in the city centre on 1 April.

Hardwick welcomed an inquiry, announced last week by the police inspectorate, into policing at the protests.

"It's got to be a democratic political question about how do we want to be policed? I think that needs a proper parliamentary discussion," he told the weekly.

"The choices we make as a society about that aren't consequence-free. There are tricky balances to be struck."

He raised concerns about incidents of officers disguising or removing their identity numbers — as seen in several photographs and video clips published since the protests.

"That raises serious concerns about the front-line supervision. Why was that happening, why did the supervisor not stop them?" Hardwick said.

"What does that say about what your state of mind is? You were expecting trouble?

"That is unacceptable. It is about being servants, not masters: the police are there as public servants."

He said the widespread use of mobile phones by protesters to film police activity was providing invaluable evidence.

"That is challenging the police: they have to respond to the fact that they are going to be watched, there is going to be this evidence of what they have done."

An IPCC spokesman said that more than 185 complaints had been received relating to the G20 demonstrations, of which almost 90 were from alleged victims of, or witnesses to, excessive police force.

A further 52 related to complaints about police tactics, such as keeping protesters penned for hours in one area.

AFP

Voter's guide: economy Check out our voter's guide to see where the ANC, DA, IFP and Cope stand on the economy.

The iafrica.com debate Find out which parties the iafrica.com team won't be voting for... and why.

Election Focus For the latest election news, features, profiles and more, check out our Election Focus page.