TRUE COST OF FREE SPEECH Far-right protests huge drain on police budgets

THE cost of policing a cornerstone of British free speech has rocketed because it has become a magnet for extremists including former English Defence League boss Tommy Robinson.

Last year’s bill for officers to patrol the Speakers’s Corner in London’s Hyde Park came to £270,000 – an eight-fold increase on the previous two years, when the cost stayed the same at £33,069.92.

Police say the vastly-increased bill is largely down to three separate far-right protests at Speakers’ Corner last year, including when Mr Robinson made a speech there in March 2018.

The other two events included one last January by the Democratic Football Lads Alliance – closely aligned with Robinson, 36, who was released from prison two weeks ago after being jailed for contempt of court.

The third money-drainer was a protest last April by the right-wing German women’s group 120db, who claim immigrants are a threat to females.

Fights and scuffles between rival factions have led to a string of arrests for crimes including assault, harassment and affray.

Supporters of Islamic hate preacher Anjem Choudary, including jailbird Ricardo Macfarlane, have also repeatedly made speeches there as recently as May this year.

Shocking

Dr Paul Stott, a Research Fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, a UK foreign policy think- tank, said: “Speakers’ Corner was once the home of wellmeaning if eccentric British orators.

“But now many seek to use the space to convert, others to preach hate, and some to radicalise Muslims.

“The shocking language used is only the beginning of the problem.

“The dramatic rise in policing costs show just how concerned the authorities are about the escalation in hostilities. The mix of far-right and extremist Islamists – both sides cheered on by fans on Youtube – poses a real risk of violence in the park.”

One of the speakers, Ricardo Macfarlane, was jailed for 12 months for affray in December 2013 for his part of a self-styled Muslim Patrol vigilante group convicted of harassing, intimidating and assaulting people on streets in East London while claiming they were enforcing sharia law.

He was also a friend of London Bridge killer Khuram Butt and was arrested shortly after the 2017 atrocity for describing Butt as “an amazing brother”. He was freed without charge. Macfarlane was also seen alongside Bu Butt in Channel 4 docum mentary The Jihadis N Next Door.

The tradition of S Speakers’ Corner – ha hailed by author George Or Orwell as one of the minor wonders of the world – dat dates back to 1866 when a meeting meet of the Reform League de demanding an extension of voting rights was suppressed by the Government.

Hanged

The right to free speech there was enshrined in an Act of Parliament in 1872.

The infamous Tyburn gallows where around 50,000 prisoners were hanged stood near the spot for almost 600 years. Condemned people were given the ch chance to say their final wo words to spectators.

A Met Police spokesman said sa last night that three high- hi profile meetings at Speaker’s Sp Corner significantly ca increased total cost.

He said: “These events created cre additional costs that are distinct from the usual costs cos associated with policing Speake’s Sp Corner.”