Fears of violence as far-Right groups outline plans to ‘defend’ statues in London this weekend
- Fears far-Right thugs may head to London to take on anti-racism protesters
- Ex-English Defence League leader, Tommy Robinson, called police ‘soft-handed’
- Several football ‘firms’ planning further demonstrations ‘prepared to use force’
Police fear far-Right thugs could descend on the capital this weekend to take on anti-racism protesters.
Football hooligans are planning counter-protests to ‘defend’ memorials and statues.
Former English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson called for opposition protests in a two-minute video in which he accused police of being ‘soft-handed’ at Black Lives Matters marches.
He accused officers of failing to act because there were ‘too many people who aren’t white’.
Black Lives Matter protesters clashed with opponents next to the Winston Churchill statue in Westminster on Tuesday
A man confronts police at the statue of Churchill on Tuesday afternoon as Black Lives Matters protesters paid tribute to George Floyd, whose funeral was taking place in Houston
A man holds a cross with an England flag on top of it as police guard the statue of Winston Churchill yesterday afternoon
Ken Marsh, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, said: ‘We have got the perfect storm ahead of us this weekend, we have got planned protests and now Tommy Robinson and his agitators.’
Several football ‘firms’ plan further demonstrations. A group of Millwall fans spent part of yesterday guarding the statue of Churchill in Parliament Square.
Other fans from as far as Cardiff and Blackpool also descended on London and said they were prepared to use force to prevent vandalism.
The Democratic Football Lads Alliance, founded in 2017 with a supposed aim of opposing terrorism, urged members to defend monuments, according to the Hope Not Hate group.
Hope Not Hate chief executive Nick Lowles said ‘their real objective’ is simply violence.
The plans echo a ‘Unite the Right’ rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, when neo-Nazis clashed with counter-demontrators over plans to remove a statue of General Robert E. Lee, the American Confederate. It culminated with a white supremacist ramming his car into a crowd, killing a woman and injuring 19.
Black Lives Matter activists in Britain have compiled a list of 60 ‘racist statues’ they want removed for ‘celebrating slavery’.
Met Police officers created a circle of protection for the statue of Winston Churchill on Tuesday afternoon as BLM activists and another group clashed at the memorial
The statue of former British prime minister Winston Churchill was defaced during the protests on Sunday
As protests continue to grow over monuments linked to colonialism, hundreds of demonstrators surrounded an Oxford college last night demanding a monument to Cecil Rhodes be torn down.
Protesters gathered in Oxford High Street kneeling for eight minutes and 46 seconds – the time George Floyd had a white police officer kneeling on his neck which led to his death in Minneapolis.
The crowd chanted ‘take it down’ as police stood guard at the entrance to Oriel College.
Rally organiser Ndjodi Ndeunyema, a law student and former Rhodes scholar whose education has been partially funded by a trust set up by the 19th century colonialist, said: ‘The statue remaining is an affront on the university’s support for movements such as Black Lives Matter. Rhodes is not worthy of veneration or glorification because of the racism and subjugation he represents’.
Elsewhere, vandals in Leeds targeted a memorial to Queen Victoria, daubing the word ‘slave owner’ on the plinth even though she was crowned four years after the abolition of slavery.
Last night a Downing Street spokesman urged police to make their own decisions about whether to intervene if protesters try to pull down statues.
It comes after officers stood by while a statue of Edward Colston was thrown into Bristol harbour.