Police ‘assaulted’ and face ‘aggression’ from Tommy Robinson protesters

Police officers have been assaulted as they faced “significant aggression” from protesters at a “freedom of speech” festival led by far-right activist Tommy Robinson, Scotland Yard said.

More than 100,000 people were estimated by police to have gathered in London for the “Unite the Kingdom” event which faced counter protests by anti-racism campaigners.

The Metropolitan Police said it estimated around 110,000 were in Whitehall for the Robinson event and 5,000 for the counter protest.

The force, which was attempting to keep the two groups apart, said: “Officers are having to intervene in multiple locations to stop Unite the Kingdom protesters trying to access sterile areas, breach police cordons or get to opposing groups.

“A number of officers have been assaulted.”

It added: “We continue to see significant aggression directed at officers by Unite the Kingdom protesters.

“We have deployed additional officers with protective equipment in multiple locations, supported by police horses, to deal with the disorder.”

Projectiles were thrown by Robinson protesters towards the counter-demonstrators as thousands from both sides stared each other down on Whitehall.

A line of police horses faced the sea of Union flags and at one point a glass bottle appeared to smash against a horse, causing the horse and rider to stagger backwards.

Police took out their batons at around 4.25pm as they continued to try and push back thousands of Robinson supporters gathered on the top of Whitehall and Trafalgar Square.

Beer cans were thrown and an officer was seen trying to stamp out a flare in the metres-wide gap between the two protest groups on Whitehall.

As trouble flared, the “Unite” protest featured speeches on a stage in Whitehall from Robinson and other activists including former actor Lawrence Fox, former Apprentice candidate Katie Hopkins along with musical performers and a group of bare-chested members of the Destiny Church in New Zealand performing a haka.

It also featured far-right French politician Eric Zemmour, who came in fourth place in the first round of the 2022 French presidential election, leader of the Danish People’s Party Morten Messerschmidt and Petr Bystron of the far-right Alternative for Germany party.

Strict conditions have been imposed under the Public Order Act on where and when campaigners can protest, the Met said, with the SUTR event ending at 4pm and the Unite the Kingdom event finishing at 6pm.

Five Premier League football matches are also set to take place on Saturday, including derbies between West Ham and Tottenham, and Brentford and Chelsea.

More than 1,600 officers will be deployed in total across the city, with 500 brought in from other forces, the Metropolitan Police said.