Thousands of hooligans, far right activists & veterans turned out in central London today supposedly to defend the war memorials. Instead, there were repeated violent clashes with the police. The day ended with an image of one of them urinating on the memorial to PC Keith Palmer.
Their actions today give an absolute lie to the idea that they are peaceful demonstrators, are law-abiding or care about our institutions. Many of them were thugs intent on trouble from the very start, fueled on booze from an early hour.
Many of these far right thugs had no interest in defending anything. Rather, they were intent on confrontation, ideally with their political opponents but in their absence then with the police
The courageous decision of #BLM to call off their protest prevented large scale disorder. While of course this must have not been an easy decision for them, and one they might be criticised for, it was absolutely the right one and we should applaud them for it
The media came under repeated attack today, with several journalists assaulted and injured. There is no excuse for targeting the media whether it be abuse, harassment or violence
The decision of @SadiqKhan and the @metpoliceuk to board up the monuments is now shown to have been the right one. It both protected them, but also prevented them from being a focal point for violence. Their boarding up also showed the real violent intent of the far right
Government minsters have played fast and loose with identity and macho politics over recent days and many of their comments will only feed notions of a cultural war. We need politicians to lead, and that means bringing people together in times of crisis
Finally, it is too early to know how these events will play out in the long term, but what is clear is that all those who support racial justice and want Britain to be a successful multicultural society need to do their bit. We cannot leave it to others.
