A FEMALE Black Lives Matter protester was filmed trying to protect police in London as crowds pelted them with bottles and traffic cones.
Protests were carried out peacefully for much of Sunday afternoon in the capital but there were a number of clashes with cops on Whitehall.
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Some demonstrators were seen appealing for calm as bottles, traffic cones and other objects were hurled at officers near the Cenotaph.
In one clip a woman was seen screaming at the crowd to stop throwing objects at the retreating Metropolitan Police officers – repeatedly shouting “stop” and “no” at the crowd.
Remonstrating with some in the crowd, she said: “It’s not worth it!”
In another video, a female protester with a megaphone urged those present to disengage from the police.
She shouted: “You don’t understand…there’s children here.”
The Prime Minister said anti-racism demonstrations had been “subverted by thuggery” after protesters clashed with cops in the capital and ripped down a statue of a slave trader in Bristol.
Scotland Yard said 12 people were arrested and eight officers injured as bottles and other objects were thrown in central London yesterday.
Graffiti was scrawled on the statue of Sir Winston Churchill in Parliament Square, while one protester tried to set the Union flag on fire.
One protester tried to set a Union flag on fire [/caption]
A protester pulls attempts to burn a flag at the cenotaph in Whitehall[/caption]
There were some clashes between police and protesters [/caption]
In Bristol, protesters toppled the bronze memorial to slave trader Edward Colston and dumped it into the harbour.
Downing Street described the incident as a “criminal act” and said the “democratic process should be followed”.
Marvin Rees, the Mayor of Bristol, said he felt no “sense of loss” for the statue, but told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “As an elected politician, obviously I cannot condone the damage and I am very concerned about the implications of a mass gathering on the possibility of a second Covid wave.”
He praised the police’s handling of the protest.
He said: “I think our police were incredible actually, and this is intelligent, nuanced policing, not Trumpian militarisation domination.
“What we had was a police force with a huge crowd in front of it, with lots of energy, lots of passion, lots of frustration, and we didn’t have the violent confrontations we had in other cities.”
Protesters put their knees on the statue of the slave trader in Bristol in solidarity with George Floyd [/caption]
Chief constable Andy Marsh said that had his officers intervened to arrest those responsible there would have been a “very violent confrontation”.
He said: “Can you imagine scenes of police in Bristol fighting with protesters who were damaging the statue of a man who is reputed to have gathered much of his fortune through the slave trade?
“I think there would have been very serious implications and whilst I certainly do not condone crime or damage of any sort, I fully support the actions of my officers.”
However Home Secretary Priti Patel branded the incident “utterly disgraceful”, while crime, policing and justice minister Kit Malthouse for those responsible to be prosecuted.
“A crime was committed, criminal damage was committed, there should be evidence gathered and a prosecution should follow,” he told BBC Breakfast.
John Apter, the chairman of the Police Federation, which represents rank-and-file officers in England and Wales, criticised Avon and Somerset Police for its decision not to intervene in the protest.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the Colston statue should not have been torn down by protesters but added that it was wrong for the monument to have remained in place for so long.
On LBC Radio he said: “It shouldn’t be done in that way. Completely wrong to pull a statute down like that.”
But shadow justice secretary David Lammy compared those who toppled the monument to followers of Martin Luther King and the suffragettes.
Sunday’s Black Lives Matter rallies attracted thousands of people right across the UK.
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The Metropolitan Police said 12 people were arrested and eight officers were injured on Sunday, with most of the arrests related to public order offences.
That came after Scotland Yard said 29 people were arrested and 14 officers were injured during clashes between police and protesters on Saturday.
On Sunday evening, Boris Johnson tweeted: “People have a right to protest peacefully & while observing social distancing but they have no right to attack the police.
“These demonstrations have been subverted by thuggery – and they are a betrayal of the cause they purport to serve.
“Those responsible will be held to account.”
The statue of Edward Colston was hurled into the Bristol harbour yesterday[/caption]
Black Lives Matter protesters threw the statue of Colston into Bristol harbour [/caption]
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