A large group of protesters abused people sitting having a picnic in Hyde Park on Saturday afternoon, as far-right demonstrations took place in central London.
A Video shared online shows the gang approach some people gathered in the park for a picnic, before swearing at them and forcing them to move. In scenes that many will find repulsive. There appears to be no reason why this group were singled out.
Tom Norman, an actor who took a video of the incident, wrote on Twitter that the group dispersed when the Met Police arrived on the scene
“They were attacking anyone in their path. It could not have been LESS about statues or values or being British. It was shameful,” he added in a separate post.
Arrests
More than 100 people were arrested at a far-right protest in London, which was condemned by Prime Minister Boris Johnson as “racist thuggery”.
Six police officers suffered minor injuries in violent clashes as several hundred demonstrators, mostly white men, attended the protest organised by far-right groups which claimed they wanted to protect statues such as Winston Churchill from vandalism.
But the demonstration turned violent after hundreds of self-proclaimed “statue defenders” took over areas near the Houses of Parliament and Trafalgar Square and hurled missiles, smoke grenades, glass bottles and flares at police officers.
Many of those present were drinking, and there were a number of clashes with police in riot gear as crowds chanting “Tommy Robinson” and “England” while raising their arms surged towards lines of officers.
Outbursts of violence continued around the city after the 5pm deadline had passed, with the last few protesters removed from Parliament Square at around 6.45pm.
By 9pm, more than 100 people were arrested during the protest for offences including breach of the peace, violent disorder, assault on officers, possession of an offensive weapon, possession of class A drugs, and drunk and disorder.
Shameful
Scotland’s First Minister has branded protesters “utterly shameful” as police were able to avert a major clash with an unknown group.
Hundreds of people descended on George Square in Glasgow to call for the statue of Metropolitan Police founder Robert Peel to stay in place in an event organised by a group called the Loyalist Defence League, after a protest was organised to call for its removal.
The original protest, organised by the Glasgow Youth Art Collective, was postponed due to what organisers say was a lack of access to the square and “police targeting activists”.
The First Minister welcomed the cancellation of the protest.
At the daily coronavirus press briefing, the Nicola Sturgeon added: “Violent protest is never acceptable.
“I say to anyone that has found themselves on the streets of Glasgow in an altercation with other groups or with the police, that they should really take a long hard look at themselves.
“That is not acceptable behaviour at any time, but at this time of crisis that the country faces, I think it’s particularly shameful behaviour.”
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