Police face questions as more than 100 people arrested at Cenotaph
Football hooligans and far-Right protesters clash with police who had set up an exclusion zone
SCOTLAND Yard is facing questions over the decision to allow far-Right counter-protesters in Whitehall after violence and disorder marred Armistice day commemorations.
Almost 100 people were arrested as police fought to contain groups of football hooligans and protesters trying to confront pro-Palestinian marchers.
Far-Right activists, led by Tommy Robinson, the convicted criminal and founder of the extremist English Defence League, were permitted to gather in Whitehall yesterday morning after saying they wanted to “protect the Cenotaph”.
The Met Police, who had thrown an exclusion zone around the area and banned pro-Palestinian supporters, said they would allow counter-protesters in. Laurence Taylor, the deputy assistant commissioner and the Gold Commander for yesterday’s policing operation, said: “Counter protest will be allowed in Whitehall because the sole purpose and their intention is to protect the sanctity of the Cenotaph and remembrance, so I don’t anticipate any disorder from that group.
“The disorder will come from a pro-Palestinian group going into that area while they are there.”
He added: “If the two groups come together there will be serious disorder, that is why I have put conditions in place to prevent that from happening.
“We know that a great deal of tension has come about because of the pro-Palestinian march. We are ensuring that we balance everybody’s rights. We have been well engaged with the organisers of that march, we have been grateful to them for moving the location of that.
“What I have done with the conditions is ensure that I can manage all groups involved. It is not for me to determine what is right and what is wrong. It is for me to ensure that people are safe to ensure that I prevent serious disorder, disruption or damage and I do that in the most proportionate way.”
David Jones, a former Cabinet minister, questioned the decision to allow counter protesters to gather in the area.
He said: “It does seem very, very odd that they were allowed into Whitehall. I think that the whole of Whitehall should have been off limits for demonstrators, this weekend certainly.
“We’re talking about the two most solemn days in the national calendar and it would have been wise not to have allowed anyone who was demonstrating onto Whitehall.”
Before the national two-minute silence at 11am, Right-wing protesters began clashing with police close to the Cenotaph. Missiles were thrown at police, while others screamed “f-----traitors”, “you’re not English anymore” and “we want our country back”. A splinter group broke off and attempted to head in the direction of where the pro-Palestinian march was taking place. They were stopped by officers in the Pimlico area, with a total of 82 arrested to prevent a breach of the peace.
Graham Wettone, a retired Met officer with 30 years experience in public order policing, said the tactics had largely worked. He said: “There may well be some criticism of the decision to let the counter-protests gather in Whitehall but there shouldn’t be, because the decision was a sensible one.
“It made sense to have them in one area where they could be contained and dealt with. The priority was to avoid the two sides coming together and clashing and from that point of view it worked.
“Those causing trouble were largely a mix of far-Right and football-linked groups and the police are very well versed in dealing with them. What we saw was short, sharp outbreaks and a lot of pushing and shoving but nothing that the officers were unable to contain.”
Another former Scotland Yard officer said: “That represented a real win for the tactics. The biggest danger was that we would see thousands of people from opposing sides clashing on the streets of London in running battles.
“Lots of innocent people could have got caught up in it and may have been hurt and it would have been extremely difficult to contain. That was avoided because the police successfully kept the two sides apart.”
But the involvement of the far-Right and football hooligan elements has raised concern over the risk of further disorder in coming weeks.
Scotland Yard has said they expect the weekly pro-Palestinian protests to continue for the foreseeable future and organisers have said they intend to continue until Israel’s actions in Gaza cease.
While counter-protesters claimed it was the decision to hold a demonstration on Remembrance Day that brought them out onto the streets, there will be concern that their actions could also continue.
‘Those causing trouble were largely a mix of far-Right and football-linked groups’