The Met and the never-ending treadmill of public order

Chris Hobbs follows another series of protests by rival groups which have again stretched the Met's resources in a week when Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has warned of a looming financial crisis.

Unheralded by the media, the hard left and the far right, the Met successfully negotiated a major public order event on the 26th of October when two large, diametrically opposing groups, many thousands strong, staged marches and rallies within a few minutes’ walk of each other.

However, there has been no time for the organisation to rest on its laurels. Draining public order events which impact on local policing, have continued with the right to protest being upheld regardless of cost to the financially stricken Met.

A week after the above-mentioned Tommy Robinson march and rally and the anti-racist counter-protest, London saw yet another pro-Palestine event together with the now familiar pro-Israel counter-protest.

At least the route varies and on this occasion the march set off from Whitehall with its final destination being the US Embassy at Nine Elms; that destination perhaps chosen because of the imminent US Presidential election.

The route took the marchers past Parliament and alongside the Thames and it wasn’t long before those marchers were greeted with the familiar sight of the grinning pro-Israeli Iranian dissident standing by Lambeth Bridge

On this occasion, however, he didn’t attempt to ’ insert’ himself amongst the pro-Palestinians. Nevertheless, a short distance further on, a small group of familiar pro-Israeli counter-protesters emerged from a side alley, unfurled a banner and attempted to block the march.

Stewards, clearly expecting some form of action, were in a line at the front of the march and halted it some distance away from the counter-protest. Police were quickly on the scene and the pro-Israeli group were ushered to the side where they exchanged insults with the marchers as the latter resumed their journey.

The main pro-Israeli group were gathered at the approach to Lambeth Bridge in a location that was ideal for the police bronze commander. The sterile area was large and consisted of a line of effective pro-Palestinian stewards; behind them were steel barriers then a cordon of police and finally a further line of barriers behind which were about 200 flag waving, pro-Israeli counter-protesters.

As is usual, insults were exchanged between the two groups but the march passed by without incident.

At Nine Elms itself, a number of marchers were seen leaving for home almost immediately. About half, continued to the main stage to listen to the speeches. A small group positioned itself opposite the Embassy while others grouped up for several ‘chant fests’ or held their own meetings. The approaches to the Embassy itself were well protected by police.

There was only one incident when officers made an arrest and were surrounded by a crowd chanting, ‘let her go.’ The incident was brief and at the conclusion of the rally, crowds swiftly dispersed. Those who were engaged in ‘chant fest’ groups swiftly complied with police requests to ‘move on.’

TSG rushed to Southall

This year Diwali and Halloween fell on the same day and the normally relatively well-ordered Diwali celebrations, on this occasion, turned sour. On the 31st of October TSG units were rushed to Southall as crowds threw fireworks and fought amongst themselves. The celebrations continued the following evening and, despite an enhanced police presence, there was a stabbing. This level of disorder will almost certainly necessitate a policing plan being put in place before next year’s celebrations.

Anonymous now a damp squib?

Many experienced Met officers will remember that just a few short years ago, November the 5th was marked by several hundred anarchic youths sporting Guy Fawkes masks rampaging around central London throwing fireworks at police and even firing rockets at Buckingham Palace. This took place under the auspices of the shadowy Anonymous group and, encouraged by social media, similar events took place in other cities around the world. The event was effectively hijacked during the pandemic by Covid deniers and anti-vaxxers but since then just small numbers materialised during the evening in question. November the 5th 2024 saw just a handful of individuals congregate in Trafalgar Square with just one in the traditional, rather sinister Guy Fawkes mask. Watched over by several TSG carriers, a Palestinian flag was waved but that was the most energetic activity observed during an uneventful evening.

A Donald Trump victory and a London protest

Within a few days there was an unplanned return to the vicinity of the US Embassy after the election of a victorious Donald Trump. Anti-racist groups called an ‘emergency protest’ and the Met together with seasoned observers (including myself) expected a turnout of many hundreds if not thousands. Numerous police carriers were parked in the vicinity and officers were ‘kitted;’ an understandable precaution given this was the day after Guy Fawkes celebrations.

In fact, just over 100 materialised together with a handful of counter-protesters sporting Israeli and Union flags. The anti-racist speeches lasted a relatively short time and as participants were leaving, the counter-protesters played the US national anthem as their rivals passed by. This was greeted with some amusement by both sides and there was only one verbal disagreement.

A bigger anti-Trump protest had already been promoted for Saturday with details ‘to be announced’ but that withered on the vine perhaps due to the poor midweek attendance and no London protest took place: Others did occur at several locations in the UK.

A ‘Q word’ Saturday

And so, to Saturday the 9th of November which suggested the use of the ‘Q’ word in that there was a just small Sudanese protest which, in essence, was calling for peace in the war-torn country of Sudan. It began outside the US Embassy and around 200 participants marched to Parliament Square without incident.

Also marching along a similar route was a smartly turned- out Orange Order procession complete with band who were taking part in their own annual procession in order to pay their Remembrance Day respects. Last year they were caught up in the disorder on November the 11th as hundreds turned out to ‘protect the Cenotaph’ with one group attempting to attack a Palestinian march that was going no-where near Whitehall. Those in the procession made no secret of their disgust as those protesters abused and attacked police. Happily, their march this year was without incident.

The Sudanese protesters reached Parliament Square and held a short meeting. Somewhat incongruously another group arrived in Parliament Square with each individual clutching a white wooden cross. They were a Christian anti-abortion, pro-life group and simply prayed and sung hymns.

Remembrance Sunday

And so, to one of the Met’s major public order events of the year; the Remembrance Sunday’ commemoration in Whitehall. The crowds were vast and included many ex-servicemen complete with headgear and medals. The allocated areas for spectators were filled to capacity and airport like scanners were used to search bags. Large screens helped those ‘locked out’ to witness events.

The perpetual concern for police is the possibility of a terror incident which would see headlines across the world. This year also saw concerns in respect of pro-Palestinian and environmental activists but the event passed without any significant incidents.

Protests continue

Despite it being Remembrance Sunday, London’s protest activity continued. A Kurdish rally and march began outside the BBC while a march linked to Ethiopia assembled by Oxford Street station. I opted for the Kurdish march but shortly after it set off towards Piccadilly, I saw six officers detach themselves and walk rapidly towards and then down Oxford Street. The reason soon became clear; the Ethiopian march had grown in size and was now occupying half the width of the road causing traffic obstruction. Whether this was permitted under the march conditions imposed by police is unknown.

At the front of the march were a number of ‘political prisoners’ dressed in orange jumpsuits and handcuffed. Dramatically, the march suddenly halted, the ‘prisoners’ fell to the floor as several ‘soldiers’ appeared and began ‘assaulting’ the prisoners.

The initial reaction from police officers, spectators and myself was one of shock but the ‘penny’ soon dropped and we all realised this was a staged event. It was repeated on several other occasions during the march which caused significant traffic disruption, as indeed does any march that progresses along Oxford Street.

Armistice Day see’s further protests

Monday the 11th of November saw the annual Armistice Day commemoration in Whitehall. This is a ‘low key’ event compared to Remembrance Sunday but still attracts several hundred spectators. There is a noticeable police presence; a band, a service and a two-minute silence at 11AM.

As the crowd, including myself, observed the two- minute silence at the barriers in Whitehall but the silence was broken by police sirens and police carriers could be seen arriving in Parliament Square. It transpired that the pro-Palestinian group ‘Youth Demand,’ had commenced sitting down, blocking the traffic at precisely 11AM. This protest was quickly dealt with and that appeared to be that for the day.

However, a message alerted me to a situation at the London School of Economics. On my arrival, two noisy groups confronted each other separated by a cordon of police. It appears that a former UN official and human rights activist, known for her pro-Palestinian views was speaking at the university and the pro-Israeli group numbering around thirty decided to stage a protest.

They were opposed by a larger pro-Palestinian crowd of around a hundred while, interestingly, most students simply went about their business. The Israeli group suddenly packed up their banners and left which led to the pro-Palestine group dispersing.

Later, it appears that the lady in question went on the speak at the SOAS university and a similar protest and counter protest took place with police in attendance.

Future challenges

More public order challenges await the Met. On Sunday the annual Remembrance event organised by the Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women takes place at the Cenotaph which will necessitate a significant security operation.

Then, on Tuesday the 19th of November, farmers are expected to descend on Parliament in protest against the government’s planned revision of inheritance tax. The organisers have stated that farm vehicles won’t attend and there is no intention to cause disruption. A previous farmer’s protest which did include vehicles, saw immaculate behaviour from the farmers themselves but the event attracted the attention of some on the right of the political spectrum, a number of whom were antagonistic towards police.

Already, on social media, there has been criticism of the Met for allegedly banning the protest whilst, it was pointed out, permitting those “terrorist” supporting marches.

In fact, no ban had or has been imposed by the Met and this was simply yet another example of social media ‘disinformation.’ This disinformation was then replaced with social media posts saying that the Met had banned farm vehicles such as tractors which was again denied by the force.

Meanwhile, amidst all this frenetic protest activity, Sir Mark Rowley has issued another warning as to the dire financial situation faced by his force.

Chris Hobbs is a former Special Branch officer who follows public order operations as an observer for Police Oracle.

Category: OpsPublic Order