Ban demonstrations during pandemic, Met officer urges

PRITI PATEL should ban demonstrations on health grounds during the coronavirus pandemic, says a policing leader, rather than having statues and memorials boarded up.

Ken Marsh, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, said the Government would be acting lawfully if it was to ban demonstrations under the regulations barring no more than six people from gathering.

His comments follow the violent clashes between far-right protesters and police which led to 113 being arrested and 23 officers being injured.

“Why are we allowing demonstrations that the Government says are not lawful?” said Mr Marsh. “The Home Secretary says it is the Mayor’s fault, the Mayor says it is the Home Secretary’s fault.

“They [should] stop their politics and silly games and protect my officers’ lives. I can’t … understand why we are boarding up statues when we could ban people from coming near them.”

The boarding up of Winston Churchill’s statue in Parliament Square led to criticism from MPS and historians that it was giving in to violent protest.

Mr Marsh said he supported the right to free speech “100 per cent” but added: “You have a right to go to a pub and a restaurant but you can’t because we are in the middle of a pandemic.”

A government source said such demonstrations as this and last weekend’s were against the regulations on gatherings, but added: “It’s about enforcement. It’s really difficult to say to people, you all need to go home. If they say no, what do you do?”

Meanwhile, a former chief prosecutor said the Crown Prosecution Service should investigate Paul Golding, leader of far-right group Britain First, as to whether he incited violence at Saturday’s protests.

Nazir Afzal said a video of Mr Golding urging supporters to attend the protests was below the threshold for prosecution, but that his recent actions should be looked at “to see whether cumulatively it can amount to incitement because that’s a stronger case”.