Injured officers call for apology
been launched after he was pronounced dead at the scene in Askew Road shortly before 1.30am. Residents described being woken by gunshots.
A 69-year-old woman, who did not want to be named, said she was in bed when she heard “two or three” blasts at about 12.30am. “I heard
FRONTLINE police officers have called for an apology from bosses for failing to protect almost 50 colleagues injured over the weekend in the capital’s anti-racism protests.
Metropolitan Police Federation chairman Ken Marsh called for urgent action from Met Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick and demanded officers are properly equipped.
It comes after police without helmets and shields were pelted with bottles and fireworks in clashes with protesters in central London during demonstrations sparked by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Writing in the Evening Standard yesterday, Dame Cressida condemned the attacks, as she revealed 49 officers were injured over the weekend, including a mounted officer seen to fall from her horse on Saturday, adding to 13 hurt last week.
The force arrested more than 60 people for offences including assaulting police officers and criminal damage.
Graffiti was scrawled on the statue of Sir Winston Churchill in Parliament Square, shots and somebody calling ‘Help me, help me’,” she said.
The woman called the police and watched the nearby scene from a window.
She said: “I saw a man laying in the street, sort of in the gutter in front of the bus stop, and several cars had stopped and the people were while in Bristol protesters toppled the bronze memorial to slave trader Edward Colston and dumped it into the harbour. On Sunday evening, Boris Johnson tweeted: “These demonstrations have been subverted by thuggery – and they are a betrayal of the cause they purport to serve. Those responsible will be held to account.”
Home Secretary Priti Patel mirrored the Prime Minister’s words ahead of a statement in the Commons on public order yesterday afternoon.
Marvin Rees, the Mayor of Bristol, said he felt no sense of loss for the statue, but told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “As an trying to help and one of them was trying to give CPR.”
A 29-year-old resident, who has lived near Askew Road for about five years, said he was “shaken up” by the shooting. Scotland Yard said officers are trying to locate the victim’s family and no arrests have been made. elected politician, obviously I cannot condone the damage and I am very concerned about the implications of a mass gathering on the possibility of a second Covid wave.”
Justice minister Kit Malthouse called yesterday for those responsible to be prosecuted, while John Apter, the chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, criticised Avon and Somerset Police for its decision not to intervene in the protest. He told BBC Breakfast: “To have no police presence there I think sent quite a negative message.
“I understand there has been a lot of controversy about this statue for many years – so the question is: why didn’t those in the local authority consider taking it down long before, rather than waiting for these actions?”
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the Colston statue should not have been torn down by protesters, but added that it was wrong for the monument to have remained in place for so long.
On LBC Radio, he said: “It shouldn’t be done in that way.”