A weekend of protests has been marred by violence as far-right activists took to the streets of Westminster.
Among those present were convicted criminals Tommy Robinson and Paul Golding. Some protesters were seen displaying Nazi-style salutes.
On Parliament St, in front of the police cordon 100m from the Cenotaph pic.twitter.com/Rd72kXofnh
— Dan Sabbagh (@dansabbagh) June 13, 2020
There were reports of journalists being attacked. One injured photographer was seen leaving the police cordon with medics while being verbally abused.
The crowd is very hostile to any media and reporters. This photographer is just one example. Looks like a broken nose. pic.twitter.com/kgoXDYaLx4
— Oli Dugmore (@OliDugmore) June 13, 2020
The protests were originally intended to provide civil defence of statues and monuments in the area amid a planned Black Lives Matter protest. That protest was moved to a different area as fears of violent clashes mounted.
Violence against police this afternoon at Parliament square. pic.twitter.com/e9HZJHzbAK
— Vinnie O'Dowd (@VinnieoDowd) June 13, 2020
Calls for protests to adhere to social distancing rule were also ignored.
The Metropolitan Police imposed a section 60 order from 11am to allow greater use of stop and search powers.
Commander Bas Javid said: “It is our job to protect those who are coming into central London today, and this tactic is one of the best available to us, which allows us to seize offensive weapons that have absolutely no place on our streets at any time of the day.”
Commander @BasJavidMPS explains why a section 60 has been put in place at today’s #protests https://t.co/vKAstu5EoY pic.twitter.com/n5w2JCc8yi
— MPS Events (@MetPoliceEvents) June 13, 2020
