A FAMILY has condemned 'heavy handed' police tactics after a 13-year-old boy had his scarf snatched from his face by a policeman.
Ashley Steadman and his 32-year-old brother, Matthew Garside, were walking away from the Galpharm Stadium after watching Town's 2-2 draw with Doncaster Rovers on Saturday.
But as they walked on Stadium Way near the St Andrew's car park past a line of police, one officer shouted at Ashley to take his scarf off.
The blue scarf was covering his chin and mouth in the biting cold and the policeman then grabbed the scarf from his face, leaving the Holmfirth High School pupil stunned and upset.
Matthew, of Meltham, said: "I just could not believe what happened or why the officer did that. There was absolutely no reason for it.
"There was no trouble going on at all. We were just walking home.
"We had really enjoyed the game and should have been talking about the football.
"Ashley just had no idea what he had done wrong and it took me ages to convince him he had done nothing to warrant what the officer did.
"A couple of blokes walking near us also said they had never seen anything like that before.
"The whole road was lined with police and we must have walked past 20 or 30 before I heard someone shout in an aggressive manner `take that scarf off.'
"We all turned round to see who he was talking to, but he then yelled it again and grabbed Ashley's scarf and dragged it down from Ashley's face.
"He's only a kid. He's 13 and looks 13."
When Matthew remonstrated with the officer, another one warned him he faced being arrested.
He added: "I only wished I'd got his collar number, but it all happened so quickly and left us stunned.
"It ruined what up to then had been a really good day. I've watched Town since 1983 and never experienced anything like this before.
"The least Ashley deserves is some kind of apology."
A police spokes- woman said: "This is the first time this has been brought to our attention and we would ask that this gentleman gets in touch with us directly so we can look into it for him and hopefully bring the matter to a satisfactory conclusion."
She did say that Section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 gives officers the power to remove masks or face coverings.
Section 60 give officers the power to stop and search people where a senior officer believes there is a risk of violence happening - yet makes no specific reference to removing facial coverings.
A Section 60 order was in place for Saturday's match.
