indication from either Party that there was any prior warning that this was the particular night during which the protesters had to leave the park. There is agreement between the Parties that between midnight and 01:00 on 30 December 2005 the police had gathered around the park, and informed the protesters that they had to leave. According to one Victim, they were told that they had “five minutes” to get onto the waiting buses and be taken to an undisclosed location. The Complainants submit that the protesters were not informed of where they would be taken, and the State does not deny this assertion. 231. There is further agreement that from between 02:00 and 02:30 in the morning, the police started firing water cannons and interspersed this with orders to leave the park. However, the Parties are also in agreement that the dispersal occurred under a security cordon around the location, which prevented the protestors from infiltrating into the area. Therefore, there was nowhere for the protesters to go in leaving the park apart from the waiting buses. According to the Complainants because there was no guarantee from UNHCR on where they would be taken to, the protesters refused to board the buses provided. The Respondent State alleges that protestors started instigating others among them not to comply with the instructions to disperse and started chanting hostile slogans. 232. According to the State, at 04:45 some of the protestors threw empty bottles, pans, big wooden sticks, gas cook bottles and fire balls towards the troops, resulting in the troops having to end the protest, and according to the Complainants by 05:00 riot police armed with sticks and truncheons charged into the park and attacked the protesters, forcibly removing them from the park. The Complainants aver that gas canisters were also used to control the crowd. In all probability, given that there was nowhere for them to go apart from onto the buses, and being drenched by the water cannons, it is possible that the protesters had taken up any makeshift weapons at their disposal to defend themselves. 233. The Commission is of the view that the tactics employed by the riot police, including starting negotiations in the middle of the night, blasting peaceful protesters with water cannons to disperse them, not providing any means of escape, not giving a reasonable time for people to pack up their belongings in 65