A successful protest Saturday followed by an unexpected turn of events

Chris Hobbs attends 'one of the most potentially challenging days in terms of public order in recent years' in central London.

As the Met’s Gold Commander for Saturday’s public order events left the Operations Room at Lambeth for the final time, his sigh of relief must have been audible. The highly respected and popular officer had just overseen one of the most potentially challenging days in terms of public order in recent years and, although there had been minor incidents and a number of arrests, there was no large- scale disorder amongst the vast crowds.

There was, however, an unexpected ‘twist in the tale’ that could have and still might, negate much of the exceptional policing, and it must be said, stewarding, that was seen on Saturday.

There was significant apprehension in police circles prior to the events of the day. Whilst a rally and counter-protest on the 1^st of June in central London had passed off with just a couple of arrests, memories still remained in relation to events of November the 11^th when ‘patriots’ clashed with police throughout the day at three locations with the disorder that included a foiled attempt to attack a large Palestinian protest. There were over 100 arrests with a number of injured officers.

The first stop on what was to be a day that earned congratulations from my Fitbit, was Russell Square which was the starting point for the anti-racist counter-protest. Although the march wasn’t due to set off for over an hour and half, it was already busy with leftist-papers being distribured and placards given out. The atmosphere was relaxed and relations with the officers present were amicable.

A walk down Southampton Row into Kingsway saw a formidable group of around 300 leaving the vicinity of a local pub to the start of the rally; as with the last protest one of the themes was; ‘we want our country back.’

At the designated meeting point; in and around St. Clement Danes Church and the Royal Courts of Justice, the scene was quite remarkable. Many thousands had already gathered and the area was awash with St. Georges and Union flags. As I began walking along the Strand, the Millwall anthem which includes the phrase ‘no-one likes us, we don’t care,’ rang through the air to the amusement of several West Ham fans I was walking past; old rivalries clearly forgotten for the day.

A packed Trafalgar Square

I walked down to Trafalgar Square observing that the pubs and Tesco Express were far busier than for a normal Saturday. Trafalgar Square was already well-populated and as I turned around, the head of the march was already arriving. Such were the crowds that the later arrivals were directed around to the Canada High Commission side of Trafalgar Square.

In the event, everyone fitted in with estimates varying between 16 and 20,000. It was a remarkable turnout and looked quite spectacular with the plethora of flags which interestingly included Iranian flags that suggested support for, I believe, Iranian royalty.

The rally was, it must be said well organised, with two large screens which enabled everyone to see how events were evolving on the stage. I didn’t, in all honesty, pay much attention to the speeches or films that were being shown.

The anti-racist counter protest

Instead, I made my way down to the Embankment which was the route to be taken by the anti-racist protesters. As they came into view, it became obvious that their numbers were in excess of the miserly turnout of the 1^st of June when 150 attended the counter-protest organised in response to the rally in Parliament Square.

They were well escorted by a number of officers and there already had been one incident when some counter-protesters were apparently assaulted by a small group of ‘football lads.’ The chants were predictably venomous and directed against Tommy Robinson and ‘fascists,’ but, like their rival march, this was also well-ordered.

The 2,000 or so marchers reached Whitehall and their stage to find that barriers across Whitehall had created a large sterile area. Some of the marchers initially congregated by the barriers looking up Whitehall towards Trafalgar Square and the ‘opposition.’ Palestinian flags were visible and, as I’ve previously posted, are like a red rag to a bull to those on the right of the political spectrum. The anti-racist’s chant of ‘there’s very many more of us than,’ was perhaps one of the more inaccurate of the day.

I made my way back to the Trafalgar Square side of the sterile area where some from the rally had congregated having seen their rivals and who predictably began waving St. Georges flags in their direction.

At one stage, when looking in the direction of Trafalgar Square from the barriers, I suddenly saw a Palestinian flag move quickly across the front of Nelson’s column. One journalist who had his bike, rode quickly to the scene. Groups of officers were running as were those on the fringes of the rally who’d seen the flag waving individual.

A Palestine flag waver rescued

The officers quickly surrounded the foolish youth while others formed a cordon across the road to halt those who were chasing him. Stewards speedily arrived and formed their own cordon in front of police before moving the crowd back.

The passageway by the Admiralty pub in Trafalgar square became the centre of attention perhaps because the crowd though there was a prisoner in the visible police carrier. Police formed a cordon and for a short while it looked as if the crowd were determined to push their way through it. Stewards arrived to push the crowds back. For a while it looked as if the situation had been resolved but the crowd reformed again and again looked as if they were ready to push through the police cordon. However, stewards swiftly materialised and physically moved the crowd back in an exemplary display of crowd control.

The rally ended with an evangelical section, then a couple of patriotic songs by United the Kingdom. Tommy Robinson also thanked the police who were actually applauded and as the crowd left, I decided to walk down to Downing Street in case there was any sort of impromptu protest there. All was quiet (safe to use that word in this context).

Fracas, arrests and assaulted journalists

As I walked back up towards Trafalgar Square I could see police activity outside the public houses the top of Whitehall. There had clearly been an incident and those arrested were being placed into police transport. It would seem thee had been a fracas and four officers were slightly injured.

After the prisoners were secured in the vehicles, police withdrew. One individual referring to the Palestinian march next week, screamed at the departing vans that they would take no action against those participating in the Palestinian protest next Saturday. His language, was, however rather more colourful.

The pubs meanwhile closed their doors and crowds continued to disperse as officers in clusters were dispersed around the area to ensure there was no disorder. Later it emerged that several photo journalists in the area had been targeted and abused by those present at the rally. One individual punched a female reporter in the face and was arrested. Presumably those individuals were complaining that journalists misreported them as violent far-right individuals and so, to show that such comments are erroneous, they physically attacked those journalists.

These incidents notwithstanding, the policing operation can only be considered a huge success. Arrests totalled nine which, considering the numbers involved and the emotive and controversial views held by both sides is a remarkable achievement. Complaints apparently have been made, according to the Met, of ‘actionable’ chanting which will, presumably be looked at.

An unexpected turn of events

However, that wasn’t the end of the weekend’s events. Rumours began circulate the next morning that Tommy Robinson had been arrested under the Terrorism Act and these originated from his own ‘X’ account by someone who presumably had access to it. The assumption was that the Met were culpable but the force issued a statement stating that neither they nor Bedfordshire (Tommy Robinson is or was a Luton resident) were involved.

This prompted an ‘emergency call out,’ by Tommy Robinson’s supporters with the venue being Downing Street at 4PM. With no information as to which force was responsible, the unwelcome focus was on the Met and the force mobilisation plan was activated as they had no way of knowing how many angry Robinson supporters would materialise. To the familiar gathering of observers and photo journalists the lack of information began to take on a ludicrously sinister tone more akin Putin’s Russia.

In the end around 200 protesters gathered at Downing Street before, based on the assumption that the Met was culpable, walking the short distance to New Scotland Yard where speeches were made.

The crowd then returned to Downing Street for more speeches and chanting. By this time additional police carriers had arrived which allowed some TSG units to be relieved.

More rumours began to circulate that this was a ‘schedule 7 stop’ by police at a channel port and by the next morning it was established that the port in question was Folkestone which is covered by Kent police. Tommy Robinson was attempting to leave the country.

According to the Counter-Terrorism policing website:

‘Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000 provides police officers with unique powers to examine people who pass through the United Kingdom’s borders. It allows them to stop, question and when necessary, search and detain individuals and goods travelling through the UK’s borders to determine whether they may be involved or concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.

‘The examination of an individual under Schedule 7 is not conditional upon having grounds to suspect that person of being engaged in terrorism, but the decision must not be arbitrary. There are a range of safeguards and measures in place to ensure appropriate use of the powers.’

According to the BBC, Robinson refused to cooperate when stopped while the situation was made even more bizarre by virtue of the fact that he was supposed to attend a contempt of court hearing on Monday morning at the Royal Courts of Justice.

This was in relation to a defamation suit that cost Robinson £100,000. The contempt appears to concern Tommy Robinson’s continued assertion, since incorporated in a film, that the youth was lying.

He was eventually allowed to proceed through the port but police did reportedly seize his mobile phone. One report suggested he’s been granted unconditional bail.

The film in question, was allegedly shown at the rally on Saturday. The failure to appear has taken an unusual turn in that the Judge has issued a warrant which is perhaps best summed up by the BBC as follows:

‘The judge issued an arrest warrant to detain the activist if, by October, he has returned to the UK but continues to refuse to cooperate.

‘That decision to delay executing the warrant was to give him an opportunity to return and explain why he had failed to attend this morning’s hearing or to apply to have it set aside.

‘If Yaxley-Lennon (Robinson) does not return, the case will be heard in his absence after 28 October – and could lead to a jail sentence.’

The good news

The good news for the Met is that a proposal circulating on Sunday to stage another large march and rally this Saturday to protest against Tommy Robinson’s incarceration is no longer being discussed due to his release. Such a protest involving thousands of angry Robinson supporters would certainly have led to concerns that serious mass disorder may well result.

It would also have coincided with another pro-Palestinian march on the same Saturday where the organisers will be accused of directly supporting Hamas by virtue of a statement issued by the terrorist organisation linking them to all world-wide pro-Palestinian events on that day.

The challenging summer for the Met and its weary officers continues.