Scotland Yard reverses earlier decision not to police Time to Act and
Million Women Rise marches, after criticism from campaigners and Boris
Johnson
The London Metropolitan Police have backed down on their refusal to
police two protest marches next month after criticism from campaigners
and London mayor Boris Johnson.
But the police maintained that protesters have no ongoing right to
assistance from Scotland Yard and future protests remain in doubt.
The Met had previously told organisers from the Campaign against Climate Change (CACC) and Million Women Rise (MWR) that they would have to hire a private firm to organise traffic management,
road closures, barriers and stewards for two separate protests on 7
March. Protest groups said the move amounted to an assault on the right
to protest.
On Wednesday the Met told CACC that they would facilitate their protest in the same way they have in the past.
“An agreement was reached with the organisers to ensure that the
event will take place. They have agreed to provide stewards for the
event, traffic authorities have agreed to write a temporary traffic
regulation order to facilitate road closures,” said a police statement. The Guardian understands that the MWR march has also been cleared by the Met.
The Met said the u-turn did not represent a change in policy and
managing protests fell “beyond our policing responsibility”. Future
marches will have to negotiate with the police in order to secure their
services.
The Met cited budgetary constraints for its original decision to cease its support for protesters.
The move attracted criticism from campaigners, politicians and legal experts. More than 60,000 people signed an online Avaaz campaign calling on the Met to reverse their policy and twelve campaign groups told the Met that they refused to pay private firms to manage protests.
The CACC and MWR said they had received indications from traffic
management companies that their involvement would cost several thousands
of pounds.
Lindsay Alderton, an organiser for the CACC said: “We were deeply
alarmed to find ourselves, two months before an election, at risk of not
being able to express these basic democratic rights at our protest on 7
March. The privitisation of protest would have veered dangerously
towards a situation where only those with money would be able to pay for
the privilege.”
Under questioning from Greens London Assembly member Jenny Jones, Mayor Johnson said on Monday he did not agree with the Met’s stance and he was trying to talk them down.
“I’m in discussion with the Met about that. And for your guidance and
the assembly’s guidance, I’m very much of the view that the police do a
fantastic job of managing about 5,000 protests of one kind or another
every year. I think it’s important that they should continue to do so.”
He said the withdrawal of police from peaceful marches may encourage “the opposite result”.
“I’m concerned that that should not be the way forward. I’m probably
at one with you Jenny in wanting to see the Met continue to police
protests in London,” said Johnson.
Jones said: “The Met police have got themselves into a mess on this.
It’s obvious they didn’t discuss the decision with the Mayor, who
clearly disagrees with them, and they certainly didn’t think through the
impact on the part of their job that means they must facilitate the
democratic process. It’s a cost-cutting move that has backfired.”
The People’s Assembly has an anti-austerity march planned for June.
National secretary Sam Fairbairn said they have been told by the City of
London Police that their policy was in line with the Met and their
march would not receive police support.
“We’ll shut the roads ourselves if we have to,” Fairbairn told the Guardian.
