The long march of London’s anti-Lockdown protesters

Enforcing Covid rules during large demonstrations is unfeasible without heavy use of force says Special Branch officer Chris Hobbs who reports from Saturday's central London 'event'

It wasn’t until I stood in Trafalgar Square and looked back down Whitehall, packed as far as the eye could see with protesters, did I appreciate the scale of the anti-Lockdown protest. I had spent most of the afternoon at the head of the march and at Trafalgar Square went into Charing Cross station for a ‘comfort break.’

I had to wait a little longer than anticipated and when I returned I expected the march to have passed through or assembled in Trafalgar Square. In fact, thousands had passed through with many heading along the Mall. It was then that I looked back down Whitehall.

The day had begun with the organisers keeping the meeting point a secret, telling supporters to keep an eye on social media; the intended ‘flashmob’ tactic was to assemble supporters quickly and move off ‘en-masse’ before the police had a chance to react.

It must be said that the tactic worked better than the organisers could dared have hoped. I received a message saying the meeting point was Hyde Park Corner in the park and not their previous rendezvous point; Speakers Corner.

When I arrived as instructed, there were lots of small groups milling around mixing with those exercising, those out for a walk and, surprisingly those who appeared to be tourists. There was also a scattering of police officers.

‘Stick together and keep moving.’

Suddenly, instructions were being shouted and many of those ‘milling around’ gravitated to the organisers. Suddenly the crowd was being marshalled by individuals with loudspeakers telling protesters to ‘stick together’ and ‘keep moving.’

Numbers increased rapidly with protesters eventually spilling out into the road. The head of the march was policed by the City of London ‘bike cops’ whose primary concern was the safety of the protesters. They were excellent throughout the afternoon.

A few police were escorting and as numbers increased still further, the Met made its move along Oxford Street. More officers appeared and attempted to form a cordon across the road. The protesters simply brushed it aside and at least one arrest was made.

Later, along the same street, further attempts were made to split the protesters with some success although I didn’t realise it at the time. The crowd of several thousand I was with eventually reached Piccadilly then to Leicester Square before marching up the Charing Cross Road.

At the junction of Charing Cross Road and Oxford Street, the police helicopter must have conveyed a view that may well have had the police Gold commander placing his head in his hands.

Another group, thousands strong, was marching up Oxford Street and reached the junction with Charing Cross Road at exactly the same time as the thousands of protesters I was with.

Flashpoints

Amidst scenes of great jubilation, the two groups met and continued along High Holborn into the City of London where there was an aimless meandering through near empty streets. Eventually it was a walk past Blackfriars Station and a stroll along the Embankment to New Scotland Yard.

Police were clearly expecting this to be a potential flashpoint, but most protesters were content to simply ‘walk on by’ contenting themselves with chants of ‘shame on you.’ Just a few stopped to harangue officers.

Next it was Parliament Square as officers raced to protect the Churchill statue which appeared odd as some of the protesters began to sing, ‘Winston Churchill, he’s one of our own.’ The protection wasn’t totally wasted and showed the political diversity of this particular cause; later leftist Antifa supporters appeared at the statue and made their feelings clear.

Downing Street was again a potential flashpoint and a number of TSG carriers were parked up clearly anticipating a potential issue. Other than less than complementary chants directed at Boris the crowd didn’t stop.

At Trafalgar Square, as I went for my comfort break, thousands were making their way down the Mall towards Buckingham Palace. Others were milling about but not entering the square; the word that I heard was that Trafalgar Square was to be avoided in case police began a mass kettling operation; unlikely and indeed throughout the day there was a constant fear that the Met would use the kettling tactic.

Trouble ahead

I opted to leave the milling crowd and followed the protesters down the Mall. As I reached Green Park, the TSG carriers parked outside the Palace left. At the entrance to Green Park, men with megaphones directed us all to Hyde Park Corner where it all began.

Upon reaching Hyde Park corner, myself and four other bewildered lost souls from the protest looked around for our fellow attendees. With none in sight I returned to Trafalgar Square where it was clear most protesters had gone. Interestingly there was a parked white van that clearly had seen better days. It soon became clear it was owned by the Met as it began broadcasting messages politely telling people that they were breaching regulations and should leave the square.

Within half an hour I was sitting on a train at Paddington which would take me home.

I then received a message that it was all ’kicking off’ at Speakers Corner. Clearly the guys with the megaphones hadn’t been quite accurate enough. The message went on to say that officers were being pelted with missiles.

Luckily the train hadn’t left then it was a taxi down the Edgware Road to Speaker’s corner where it became clear that a confrontation had taken place. Groups of protesters and police were milling around. Some distance away a significant number of police seemed to gathered in some form of defensive square as favoured by the Roman army.

PHOTO: DRN

Suddenly, there was a disturbance and an arrest which drew a hostile crowd. Police with short shields could be seen protecting the arresting officers. They withdrew followed by the hostile crowd and were joined by other officers from the ‘Roman square.’

The police and prisoner reached the edge of the park where a large number of police carriers were parked including those of the TSG. Separated by a fence, the crowd continued to shout and chant at the police who were by now out of view.

After a while, some protesters made their way back, in the gathering gloom, to where there was a significant crowd. The object of the crowd’s attention soon became clear; it was Piers Corbyn holding court in what was primarily a mayoral election speech.

Fake news

A stroll back in the pitch dark saw a crowd of about 200 in the vicinity of the police carriers which began leaving in an orderly fashion. Suddenly as the last were queueing to leave, the crowd galvanised itself and as the vehicles moved began running alongside them, throwing missiles and kicking and banging the sides.

This was interpreted across the media as police officers being chased out of the park as one publication after another repeated this as fact when it was palpably untrue.

A short time later the same TSG and Level 2 carriers returned on blues and twos in an impressive convoy. Officers debussed, all in full protective kit complete with short shields and NATO helmets. A number of protesters immediately stampeded away from police who, by ‘raised voices’ made it clear that enough was enough and people needed to leave. Most did; a few from a safe distance continued to shout insults, included that familiar ‘done unto death’ phrase ‘we pay your wages.’ In fact, footage showed the phrase being shouted by two individuals twice in the space of a minute.

That saw the end of a long day. 36 arrests were made but as the Met’s DAC Laurence Taylor, stated, the majority were well behaved. Groups of potential trouble makers appeared ‘diluted’ by the much larger than expected numbers of protesters.

Only later in and around Speaker’s Corner, were the familiar troublemakers able to congregate and create problems for police.

The organisers, however, will realise that policing such a large crowd in terms of enforcing Covid regulation is simply not feasible unless extreme levels of force are used.

The question now for the Met and indeed other forces, given the circumstances of the Clapham Common vigil, this anti-Lockdown protest and the incident in Bristol, is whether these contentious public order events will have an impact on future ‘kill the bill’ demonstrations; the concern would be whether any such gathering could attract an unlikely alliance of potentially violent protesters from both the hard left and the far right who see a common enemy; the police.

Category: Ops

Tags: City of London PoliceGovernment PolicyLegislationLondonMetropolitan Police ServicePublic Order