Groups must give month’s notice of marching plans

The EDL march was the second large scale demonstration by the anti-muslim group in Peterborough in the last four years.

The latest protest was organised at relatively short notice, as a scheduled demonstration elsewhere in the country had to be cancelled due to flooding.

A s pokesman fo r Cambridgeshire police said there was little legislation in place that would prevent marches from happening in the future.

He said: “Any group wishing to march in the city must give at least 30 days notice to allow for plans for road closures and other infrastructure to be put in place.

“If we feel there is a genuine prospect of public disorder we can write to the Home Secretary asking for the march to be cancelled, but it would only be in rare cases where we would do that.”

For the operation on Saturday officers from Cambridge- shire police were joined by c ol l eagues f ro m Bedfords h i re, Hert f o rd s h i re, E s - sex, Norfolk, Suffolk, British Transport Police, Nottinghamshire, City of London, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and Derbyshire police forces.

The police helicopter was also used, and was flying over the city during both marches.

Dog units were also on hand, and six police horses were used while the marches took place in the city.

In the 2010 march, 22 police horses were used to help control the crowds.

Although the PTUC demonstration finished shortly after the EDL march made its way into town, the police presence blocking the roads and paths between the two sites was maintained.

The pol i c e s pokesman said: “There were a number of lessons we learned from the previous march, and we were able to use what we learned to run the operation.”