Eyewitness: Middle East politics again impact on the Met as the Kurds march

Chris Hobbs attends a protest by Kurdish and Iranian groups and witnesses an old fashioned policing baton charge.

The phrase, ‘My enemies, enemy is my friend,’ or similar, were quite apposite as marchers were assembling on Sunday at the BBC building in Portland Place in order to march on Downing Street. The march was arranged by Kurdish groups in London and similar events involving Kurds were taking place elsewhere around the world.  The essence of these protests is that Kurds in the Middle East were being betrayed. It would seem that Kurdish forces have, with American support, been fighting ISIS.

However, their traditional foes, the Syrians and the Turks, are allegedly attacking them again in their contended homeland. This, allegedly, was due to the fact that the USA under the auspices of Donald Trump had withdrawn support and was now backing the fledgling Syrian government who, with the Turks now feel emboldened to launch operations into Kurdish held territory.  Current reports however state that US envoy, Thomas Barack, has been in discussions with both Syrian and Kurdish leaders.

During the previous week, footage emerged which showed Kurdish protesters clashing in central London with Territorial Support Group officers. On Saturday, Kurdish and Iranian protesters were visible in central London but other than a spat between Turkish and Kurdish females, there were no notable incidents.

On Saturday evening however, police resources were stretched with the arrest of 85 pro-Palestine activists who ‘broke into’ Wormwood Scrubs in a protest linked to a hunger striker inmate.

On Sunday, in addition to the Kurdish protest, which was due to end in Whitehall with a rally, there was also a Whitehall demonstration a held by Iranian activists and their pro-Israeli allies, who support the restoration of the monarchy. Clearly both the Kurds and the Iranians are vehemently opposed to the current Iranian regime.

After meeting at 1PM, the Kurdish march set off an hour later after police intervened in a minor confrontation between marchers and several passing youths. The reasons were unclear but a short while later police intervened in another minor confrontation. The third confrontation was more serious. Youths left the march to attack a small group; stewards tried to intervene, police became involved and batons were drawn. Initially, the few officers escorting that section of the march were outnumbered but more officers quickly appeared. Stewards and older marchers also tried to keep the peace. I ended up on the floor having also intervened and was grateful to be hauled to my feet by two of the older Kurdish activists.

After this incident there were clearly concerns amongst escorting officers as to how the Kurdish and Iranian protesters already gathering in Whitehall, would ‘get on’ with each other.

TSG officers respond quickly to Whitehall disorder

I reached Whitehall before the march and could see a significant gathering of Iranian protesters by Downing Street. This is the same group who complained about ‘police brutality’ just over a week previously, after officers had to draw batons after being ‘swarmed’ and attacked whilst arresting the male who had taken down the Iranian Embassy flag. As I walked down, I observed Kurdish protesters arriving. Suddenly, they spread out across the road and hundreds then began running down Whitehall towards the large gathering of Iranians. It was, frankly, an alarming sight and their intention was clearly to attack the hundreds of Iranians grouped adjacent to Downing Street.

March stewards in yellow and orange tabards, also appeared and tried to form a line in front of the marchers by linking arms. It was a commendable effort, but the marchers simply broke through.

Fortunately, there were ample TSG carriers in Whitehall and TSG officers quickly formed a ‘shoulder to shoulder’ cordon that stretched across the road. Some marchers were clearly keen for the crowd to push their way through; others hesitated while stewards and more sensible older Kurdish activists urged restraint. During this lull, NATO helmets were being distributed and clipped to belts; officers were already ‘kitted.’ An activist distracted the crowd with speeches via a sound system as more officers formed a looser cordon facing the Iranian gathering thus creating a sterile area between the two sides. The Iranians and their supporters had now clearly become aware of the Kurdish presence a short distance away but didn’t respond.

Whitehall Place and the lone traffic officer

After about half an hour, the Kurds began walking back up Whitehall and all seemed sanguine until suddenly a large group left Whitehall and began running along Whitehall Place. No-one seemed sure why; it could have been that they spotted Iranian opposition, but one problem facing police is the similarity between the respective flags. In Whitehall Place itself there was a police presence of one traffic motorcyclist who attempted to keep up with the running Kurds on foot at the same time as providing a commentary on his radio.

Running stewards then appeared quicky followed by running police officers who were attempting to catch up with the crowd.

That commentary supplied by the traffic officer was clearly effective because, as what had become a mob, reached the Embankment, so did several police carriers ‘on the hurry up’ from the direction of Westminster Bridge. Officers then formed a line and forced the crowd back along Whitehall Place.

Enough is enough

This, however, wasn’t the end of the disorder. At the top of Whitehall, in scenes reminiscent of the football hooligan days of the 70’s and 80’s, Kurdish youths were singling out their rivals and assaulting them. Iranians were still arriving for their own protests while others were leaving as the police cordons back along Whitehall, were relaxed. Stewards quickly moved in to break up the disorder as did officers. Its worthy of note at this point that the pro-active response of Kurdish stewards throughout the afternoon was commendable.

Eventually, officers decided enough was enough, batons were drawn and officers moved quickly as a unit towards the troublesome Kurds who fled. They re-gathered in Trafalgar Square but the period of disorder was over. The crowd sang, chanted and gradually drifted away while the Iranians and their pro-Israeli supporters, marched from Whitehall to the United States Embassy via Vauxhall Bridge.

Interestingly there was no comment by the Met either on social media or its on-line news pages, in relation to events linked to these protests. The sporadic, firefighting nature of the disorder meant that arrests were few, but the actions of front-line Met officers in dealing with the complex challenges of the day were both restrained and commendable but given little publicity.

Chris Hobbs is a former Special Branch officer who follows protests as an observer for Police Oracle. 

Category: Public Order