Police chiefs have been slammed for surrendering to a rampaging Black Lives Matter mob, withdrawing armed officers from Downing Street during the height of violent protests in 2020. The Mail has the story.
Senior officers put the security of No.10 in jeopardy by their “reckless” order, say critics who accuse Scotland Yard of appeasing the hostile rabble.
The extraordinary decision, exposed by the Mail on Sunday today, came as an anti-racist rally in Whitehall turned ugly in 2020. Met police chiefs were so worried about the violent crowd attempting to breach the barrier to Downing Street that they commanded elite armed officers to withdraw, fearing activists might grab their guns and use them, court papers reveal.
It is the first time the Met has admitted that armed officers were deliberately taken away from Downing Street during a riot. The clashes, which took place when Boris Johnson was Prime Minister, left more than two dozen police officers injured, including a policewoman hospitalised after her horse bolted.
Three days after the troubling scenes, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer was photographed with his deputy Angela Rayner taking the knee in support of BLM.
Senior politicians reacted with fury last night, describing the Mail on Sunday’s revelations as evidence of “two-tier policing” and demanded an immediate investigation.
Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick said: “If this is true, then the Met’s leadership recklessly surrendered to the mob and jeopardised the security of Downing Street in a pathetic attempt to placate hostile protesters. This will only add to the growing perception of two-tier policing where fashionable causes and minority groups are treated more leniently than everyone else.”
Reform MP Lee Anderson said: “To learn that armed police were stood down due to fears of having their weapons taken is absolutely shocking. Mayor Sadiq Khan and the then commissioner Cressida Dick have serious questions to answer.
“To think our Met capitulated to the rabble that is BLM is truly staggering. Maybe now the current PM and Deputy PM will stop taking the knee and get on with protecting the public. There is absolutely no point in our police carrying guns if they are not expected to use them. Our police are there to protect and serve, not to cower and surrender.”
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