No chanting, no music, no banners, just a shuffle down Park Lane and onto Victoria to hand in a petition at the Home office. Then on to the pub, i guess.
10 or 20,000 policemen demonstrated through London [depending on who you believe] , to protest at their pay and conditions. Government say that they are ‘not moved’, since their offers are very generous.
The BBC reported ‘An extremely orderly protest’
Because of the police past attitudes to the policing of protest, a number of folks turned up to watch their progress with a view to making citizens arrests if their was any signs of disorder 🙂
Reports on the Indymedia UK newswire ‘Police demo … behind enemy lines’
Earlier on this blog, Police are upset, at a demonstration ban on pay & condition They were cross abount not being able to march to Parliament. That blasted SOCPA law 🙂
Police anger at Commons march ‘ban’ [Observer]
and …… the icing on the cake ………….
“BNP Chief at head of police march” [Evening Standard]
BNP chief on police march
A senior member of the BNP marched at the head of a huge police demonstration over pay in London today. Richard Barnbrook, the far-Right party’s leader in London, walked alongside top members of the Police Federation
Mr Barnbrook, a BNP councillor in Barking & Dagenham and a candidate in the election to pick London’s next Mayor, told the Standard he took part to support the police and denied his presence was an embarrassment. An estimated 22,500 off-duty police officers, many wearing white baseball caps with the logo “Fair play for police”, walked from Park Lane to Millbank, passing close to the Houses of Parliament.
Police Federation officials claimed they were powerless to prevent Mr Barnbrook from marching. Spokesman Metin Enver said he was not invited specifically but police officers recognised him when he turned up. He said: “Some of my colleagues saw we had the BNP Mayoral candidate with us. The one thing we want to make clear is we didn’t invite him. It wasn’t a closed march. He chose to attend by his own accord which is his right in a democracy. It is disappointing if anyone chose to join the march for their own agenda.
“We didn’t ask him to leave because whether we like it or not we live in a democracy.”
Mr Barnbrook said: “I was there to support the police. I spoke to one of the organisers of the march and I explained who I was and he was quite happy about it. We did some interviews for BNP TV. I spoke to a few Pcs and they were happy to talk.” ……………
More from the Evening Standard >>>>
