Last Saturday, 26 March more than a quarter of million people trooped to the streets to take part in the March for the Alternative. The march according to Met sources was well co-ordinated , well organised and good natured.
Commander Bob Broadhurst of the MPS recounted: “The streets of London saw two very distinct protests yesterday. The TUC March for the Alternative, one of the largest marches we have seen in recent times, was overwhelmingly peaceful and good humoured
Commander Broadhurst observed that however that “those separate groups who were part of acts of violence and damage could not have been more markedly different. Their intent appeared to be causing havoc, with no concern at all for those people in central London they were putting in danger. Officers came under attack, fires were set and shops attacked. These are criminal acts and I cannot call them anything different. “
Broadhurst added: “Just as police review and change our tactics we saw a deliberate shift in tactics by those small groups to avoid police lines. By keeping highly mobile, using small alleyways and cut-throughs and covering their faces, these people appeared to think they could evade police. “
He revealed: “We had an operation in place covering a large part of London. The heart of the West End is a target-rich environment and I am sure that if we did not have that number of officers deployed we would have seen far worse damage and violence.”
Vigilance learnt that a total of 201 arrests had been made, 145 of which were in connection with an incident in Fortnum & Mason. During Saturday afternoon the store was busy with a huge number of people who have told police of their fear at what took place.
The day’s events concluded with a number of people being contained in Trafalgar Square. Officers slowly released those contained in small groups. Trafalgar Square was cleared by 02:45hrs.
Broadhurst said finally: “We have officers working closely with the CPS now on the post-event investigation. The team is drawing together all the video footage and evidence we have from yesterday. They will be identifying anyone outstanding who was breaking the law and will we do our utmost to arrest them.”
As at Sunday 27th March a policing operation was ongoing in central London.