Clashes have taken place in central London between police and individuals in a St George’s Day occasion attended by far-right supporters and others.
Teams of males wielding flags pushed by strains of police making an attempt to carry them again in an space close to Whitehall earlier than the occasion, leading to police on horseback being despatched in.
A bunch got here up in opposition to a cordon an hour earlier than the occasion was resulting from happen at an allotted location on Richmond Terrace, “violently forcing their approach by” once they had been advised to show round, the Metropolitan police stated.
The drive stated it had been in discussions with the organiser of the occasion over latest days. In a put up on X, it added: “We consider these planning to attend embody far-right teams and teams linked to soccer golf equipment travelling from elsewhere within the UK.”
These in attendance included the far-right chief Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, who calls himself Tommy Robinson, and Laurence Fox, the previous actor and chief of the Reclaim social gathering.
Individuals collaborating within the occasion, which couldn’t begin earlier than 3pm and needed to end by 5pm, had been supposed to stay on Richmond Terrace inside a delegated space marked in pink on a map.
Nevertheless, dysfunction had damaged out an hour earlier than it was resulting from start, Scotland Yard stated. At one level a police horse was struck, whereas police grappled with teams of males on Whitehall.
A piece 60AA order, giving officers the facility to require the removing of face coverings, had additionally been put into drive within the boroughs of Lambeth and Westminster after individuals gathering within the Waterloo space earlier than the occasion had been seen sporting masks.
Public order items from the Metropolitan police had been deployed forward of the dysfunction, which prompted Whitehall to be closed off in each instructions for a interval, supported by the British Transport police and the Metropolis of London police.