Analysis
Met officers endure a torrid day of protest under a scorching sun
Chris Hobbs writes how stand offs between police and protesters under a hot sun on 'Freedom Day' quickly turned aggressive
It took about ten minutes from the advertised 11am start of the protest to the protesters making their first aggressive move.
About 2,000 anti-Lockdown, anti-vaccine, anti-mask protesters had congregated in Parliament Square in order to stage a ‘Freedom’ protest to coincide with the abolition/easing of Covid restrictions.
At 11.10 am, most of the crowd assembled on Parliament Square suddenly and noisily moved into the road separating the Square from Parliament. Normally, when a contentious demonstration is expected, steel barriers are used to seal off the pavements directly in front of Parliament’s railings. This also creates space between officers posted outside Parliament and vociferous and even violent protesters.
Alas, on this occasion the barriers, whilst present weren’t linked and protesters poured through the gaps and immediately ‘got into the faces’ of officers verbally abusing them.
After a short interval, additional officers were deployed in a doomed attempt to clear the road. Persuasion and engagement were always going to fail but presumably it had to be attempted.
The next move by the protesters was to occupy the junction with Bridge Street and Parliament Street which effectively would stop all traffic in the vicinity. The was accomplished courtesy of a large man with a loudspeaker who spoke of ‘bringing London to a halt.’
TSG carriers, confrontation and speeches
The first piece of physical confrontation took place when three TSG carriers simply attempted to turn right from Bridge Street into Parliament Street thus provoking a violent reaction from what had suddenly became a mob. TSG officers left one of the carriers to facilitate progress and several uniform officers also assisted in getting the carriers through the hostile crowd into Parliament Street.
The appearance of a serial of officers ‘kitted’ produced more jeers and hostility however they were simply replacing those officers in ‘day uniforms’ who had originally been deployed in front of Parliaments railings. Other ‘kitted’ officers were, at that time, having reasonably civilised conversations with several protesters who were not virulently anti-police.
At one stage, speeches were made opposite Parliament using a sound system with one speaker – apparently a former police officer called Mark – stating that the Pandemic is a fraud but later claimed that certain effective treatments for Covid had been supressed. He then seemed to be saying that police should obey the will of the people rather than the will of politicians and the people ‘owned’ police vehicles and helicopters!
Police move forward
At around 2pm, protesters were milling around at the bottom of Parliament Street, when they observed a large concentration of police forming up in Whitehall. One serial formed a line across the road supported by further serials behind. They began to move forward towards the protesters who immediately called for reinforcements.
As the police line reached the protesters, it was clear that the intention was to ‘walk’ the protesters back to Parliament Square and presumably use the same tactic to clear the roads. The aggressive protesters however weren’t about to be ‘walked’ anywhere. Scuffles broke out and it was clear that force would have to be used to move the protesters back.
The stand-off continued punctuated by brief skirmishes with police officers donning NATO helmets. The crowd were trying to break through the police cordon simply because it was there rather than in an attempt to achieve anything. Some protesters appeared behind the police line meaning that some officers now having to face those protesters. Eventually with protesters also down one side, it seemed to the protesters that in fact the police themselves had been ‘cut off;’ indeed a number of protesters commented that the police had themselves been effectively ‘kettled’ by protesters.
Protesters claim victory
In fact, the protesters at the rear of the police line were relatively few in number and less aggressive. Eventually officers facing this group of protesters removed their NATO helmets to cheers of triumph from the crowd who felt they had achieved some sort of victory,
Some minutes later the remainder of officers removed their NATO helmets and again this was rapturously received by the crowd, a number of whom returned to Parliament Square, having been encouraged to do so by individuals with megaphones who felt the police were trying to lure protesters into some sort of trap.
However, as officers were removing their helmets, around the corner in Bridge Street, two Met ‘kitted out’ serials were forming up outside the closed St Stephen’s Tavern. This was greeted by further hostility.
Suddenly and dramatically police formed a cordon across Bridge Street with the officers facing Parliament Square. Concerned that this might be a police ‘kettle’ as occurred during the statue’s protest back in June 2020 I quickly moved to the rear of the police line.
Cordons violently breached
In fact, whereas no-one was allowed through this cordon in either direction, it was possible to enter and leave Parliament Square using other routes. Those who wanted to leave had to take circuitous detours. The cordon however became a focal point for disorder. Protesters tried to violently breach the cordon and twice succeeded. The more serious breach was the second which resulted in the presence of violent protesters on both sides of the cordon which in turn meant some officers had to face those who had breached.
Leaders amongst those who had broken through were then exhorting their compatriots to go back through the cordon again and further fighting with police took place.
Female being arrested (Credit: DRN images)
The situation then calmed and I took the circuitous route to Downing Street opposite which a small, well ordered ‘refugees and migrants welcome here’ meeting which had no police in attendance.
As I returned to Parliament Square, all seemed quiet on both sides of the cordon then a group of protesters came running from the direction of Westminster Bridge as if chasing someone. The reason wasn’t obvious but earlier in the day, familiar thugs were threatening to ‘smash the face in’ of a male who they alleged was an undercover police officer.
Those running halted at the police cordon which was withdrawn minutes later and the atmosphere around the square became almost convivial although the fact that the nearby Tesco Express had run out of beer was perhaps ominous.
I decided that it was time to leave and walked up past Westminster Station only to be drawn into a conversation involving a photo-journalist and two police evidence gatherers. Suddenly, back down in Parliament Square, crowds and police could be seen running.
Clashes in Parliament Square.
It would seem that police were trying to reopen the roads around Parliament Square which sparked confrontation with drunken protesters who had been pushed back onto the square itself. Those officers confronting the most aggressive donned NATO helmets yet again and were subject to violent attacks by the drunken mob which were duly captured on a number of cameras and mobile phones.
In other parts of the Square, kitted officers in baseball caps were subjected simply to foul mouthed abuse. During the chaos I managed to attract the attention of an irate sergeant and an equally irate inspector as I attempted to take a photo from the road; the encounter attracted much amusement on Twitter.
Eventually, it became clear that police resources were more than adequate and even the hardened protesters began to leave promising to meet up again for a major protest on Saturday.
Post incident investigation?
It remains to be seen exactly what the Met intend to do, if anything, with those familiar faces who once again have engaged in abuse of, and violence towards, police. There is ample footage and any investigation will be considerably assisted by the fact that anti-mask protesters will, of course, not be wearing masks.
Failure to act and a subsequent serious injury to an officer at one of these protests, will invite criticism but, of course, the Euro final debacle will also be soaking up resources in terms of identifying some of the thousands whose abysmal, criminal behaviour will almost certainly have cost the UK the chance of hosting the 2030 World Cup.
One aspect of Monday’s day of protest that officers hope will not be repeated in the event of another scorching day, was the erratic distribution of water. Whilst some were adequately provided for, others, it seemed were not. I certainly, have never drunk so much water in a day since I was in Jamaica.
There was also comment that some officers were stood, fully kitted out, in the sun for hours without being relieved. I have to say that there was sympathetic comment and concern from a number of the more reasonable protesters, mainly women, as to the plight of officers.
We now await the events of Saturday although, it must be said that the larger demonstrations and the presence of more reasonable individuals, tends to dilute the efforts of the thuggish minority although of course the storming of Westfield could be used as an argument to counter that theory.
However, despite the privations, provocations and demands of the day, officers can only be commended for their restraint, good humour and professionalism throughout.
Chris Hobbs is a former Met officer who worked in Special Branch
Category: Ops
Tags: Government PolicyLondonMetropolitan Police ServicePolice OfficerPublic Order