Under the shadow of ‘ticketgate’ another Saturday of public order policing

Chris Hobbs follows a Gaza War related protest and counter protest which despite the potential for flashpoints, resulted in only a handful of arrests.

If officers were both concerned and angry following the ‘guilty’ court verdict delivered against their colleague, in the case of the female who was arrested then de-arrested for fare evasion, they commendably refused to let it adversely affect their policing on yet another day of public order challenges.

The policing remained professional and impartial with public order arrests being made in central London and in the vicinity of Wembley where Oxford United and Bolton were contesting the play off final.

This was another large protest that took two hours to pass through Piccadilly and once again, several hundred young children were present which included babies in prams and in pushchairs.

I was still walking down Regent Street when I received a call from a photo-journalist who stated that that policing arrangements in Piccadilly where the static pro-Israeli counter-protest was to be held, were somewhat unusual. I hurried down in advance of the march and saw that the counter protesters were waiting for their adversaries amidst a plethora of Israeli flags.

For crowd control during the two previous protests, there had been two rows of steel barriers with the area in between them a sterile zone populated by police officers and the press, thus the two sides were kept some distance apart. On this occasion there was one row of barriers, with a line of officers standing in front of those barriers later joined by a line of stewards standing in front of them.

“Cheek by jowl”

The road through Piccadilly leading to the Haymarket is a narrow one thus the pro-Palestinian marchers and pro-Israeli counter protesters would be in extremely close proximity to each other. I used the phrase ‘cheek by jowl’ which may have been an exaggeration but only a marginal one.

The arrival of the marchers saw a period of confusion. A small number of protesters walked through but then there was a period of chaotic uncertainty as the march paused. The pro-Israeli group were in full voice and giving vent to their views and we, the neutral observers, wondered whether the march was about to be diverted.

After a few minutes it did proceed and the invective from the two sides poured both ways across the very narrow divide provided by stewards, police and that single row of barriers. It all seemed very ‘close up and personal’ yet the stewards generally managed to keep the march moving. The most frequently heard chant from the pro-Israeli side was, ‘terrorist supporters of our streets.’

One individual, from the Palestinian side. had to be restrained by compatriots, as he seemed intent on confronting individual police officers while the attention of those around me was diverted by an abandoned rucksack which was swiftly examined and removed by a very decisive PC.

Not observed by me, were a couple of scuffles further along the barriered area but in fairness to those on both sides of the divide, there was no serious attempt by either side to breach the police cordon and the barriers. No missiles were thrown although plenty were available in the form of placard sticks and banner poles. I did hear of one report of spitting.

Insults and abuse

Yet insults and abuse abounded from both sides. Somehow, officers were expected to pluck out those that may have  been ‘actionable,’ from the many thousands that were exchanged during the course of the afternoon.

Initially the pedestrianised area around Eros was occupied by curious onlookers but because of the narrowness of the roadway used by the marchers, many opted not to wait and began walking across that pedestrian area in their thousands in order to continue down the Haymarket to Trafalgar Square. In all, despite the slight deviation from the roadway, as stated above, the march still took more than two hours to pass through Piccadilly Circus.

I did point out during my running ‘X’ commentary that, like in classrooms, the ‘naughty’ boys and girls tended to congregate ‘at the back.’ Sure enough, the group of around 150 complete with a variety of musical instruments, were reluctant to move on from confronting the pro-Israeli counter-protest. Eventually, the stewards’ persistency prevailed and the group continued along the Haymarket to Trafalgar Square and thence to Whitehall.

Shortly after we latecomers arrived in Whitehall, the rally actually finished and most of those participating headed for home. The above-mentioned last group were joined by others and indulged in the now familiar chant and songfest complete with drums and trumpets. This pro-Palestinian event was supposed to conclude at 4PM and it was 4.10PM when the music stopped and those enjoying the ‘songfest’ dispersed without further incident.

The arrival of the Tamils

Those arriving in Whitehall would have noticed that a stage had been set-up by Montgomery’s statue that was connected to the Tamil community. It looked as if some form of rally had been organised but that few had materialised. However, as the pro-Palestinian protesters dispersed, walking up Whitehall from Parliament Square was a sizable crowd complete with red flags.

It transpired that the event was linked to the past civil war in Sri-Lanka and the alleged ‘genocide,’ suffered by the Tamil community. There followed speeches and a dramatic reenactment of past events involving a simulation of persons being shot dead. The appearance of this crowd clearly surprised the officers who had just finished dealing with the pro-Palestine march and rally and there was no mention of this Tamil event in the Met’s publicly announced policing plan. There were, however, several officers accompanying the march which was clearly not going to present any public order challenges.

As is usual in respect of protests linked to Israel and Palestine, elements from both sides accused police of effectively neglecting their duties.  In one edited piece of footage an argument between two men ended with a pro-Israeli protester prodding a pro-Palestinian individual in the stomach who loudly complained. The man who did the ‘prodding, was shown to be arrested to the outrage of social media. However, the footage was brief and edited and the exact circumstances remain a mystery although the individual arrested has given his side of the incident on You Tube.

In all, there were eight arrests linked to the march and counter-protest, which, considering the powerful emotive views held by both sides, could be considered a policing achievement

Officer safety 

Interestingly footage of Dutch police wading into pro-Palestine protesters with batons was widely applauded on twitter (‘X’) as the way to ‘deal with’ those who ‘support Hamas.’

Then, of course, we have the most recent case involving the female who was, in the view of most within the police community, quite properly arrested for fare evasion which in turn resulted in the officer concerned being found guilty of assault.

The case has sent shockwaves through the Met and UK policing.

Further extremely challenging protests are due and it is to be hoped that officers won’t imperil their own safety by hesitating to use force for fear of being ‘thrown under the IOPC bus.’ The fact that the ‘ticketgate’ conviction was triggered by the Met’s ‘self-referral’ to the IOPC has caused significant resentment amongst those Met officers at the ‘sharp end.’

It is, frankly, another blow to morale which the Met and Londoners, whatever their views of police, can ill afford.

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