Heavy-handed tactics

THEY danced with Extinction Rebellion on Westminster Bridge as central London ground to a halt.

They ‘took the knee’ in front of Black Lives Matter protesters who streamed through the capital in wilful defiance of lockdown rules. Yet we saw a different face of the police at the weekend.

When a group of women gathered to lament the victim of a ghastly murder and highlight the everyday dangers they face on our streets, they decided to send in the heavy mob.

Pictures of mainly young women being roughly dragged away from Clapham Common on Saturday night were shocking.

Scotland Yard later claimed its officers had been forced to intervene because of ‘the overriding need to protect people’s safety’. Their response was surely out of all proportion to the threat posed.

Government scientists told us only last week that the risk of transmitting the virus outdoors is minimal.

So, perversely, by storming the bandstand and pushing demonstrators together, the police increased that risk. Where was the common sense in that? Could those in charge not see the dark irony of using violence against women who were protesting about violence against women?

Smaller vigils across the UK passed off without incident. Why not this one? British policing has always been by consent rather than diktat. That is a principle which cannot be allowed to wither by neglect.

As for the scenes on Saturday, they are a stain on the Metropolitan force which will not easily be scrubbed away.