Police chiefs have been accused of capitulating to a Black Lives Matter mob by pulling armed officers away from the gates of Downing Street at the height of violent protests.
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.
The moment PC Nicky Vernon was knocked from her horse spooked by the mob
A mounted police officer lays on the road after being unseated from their horse, during the demonstration on Whitehall, near the entrance to Downing Street
Demonstrators clash with police officers on Whitehall during the Black Lives Matter protest in London
‘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.’
Tobias Ellwood, the former Tory MP hailed a hero for trying to save PC Keith Palmer’s life in Westminster during a terror attack in 2017, said: ‘I’m flabbergasted. Downing Street along with Parliament is the heart of our democracy. In no circumstances should there ever be a moment where our ability to defend it is reduced. Otherwise what is the purpose of even having a security operation if it so easily collapses?
‘This warrants a far deeper investigation and to ask were there political judgements here that overrode operational decision-making.’
Conservative MP Neil O’Brien contrasted the order to withdraw the Met’s heavy-handed treatment at the peaceful vigil in March 2021 for Sarah Everard, who was kidnapped, raped and murdered by Met Police officer Wayner Couzens.
‘It’s horrendous to think that incredibly violent people who ended up nearly killing a female police officer were being pandered to at every turn by the Establishment and politicians like Keir Starmer. There’s a dotted line between people like Starmer taking the knee and the police ceding territory to the mob.’
Violence erupted at the BLM protest in June 2020, part of global unrest following the murder of George Floyd by an American police officer in Minneapolis and in the febrile days after some Covid lockdown restrictions were easing.
Rioters clashed with mounted police in Whitehall and Parliament Square. Flares and missiles were hurled, and horrific footage showed PC Nicky Vernon being knocked from her horse, Rocky, when she hit a traffic light after thugs threw objects at them.
Now PC Vernon, who suffered neck and back injuries, is suing Scotland Yard, claiming the withdrawal of the armed police guard contributed to the disorder which led to her injuries.
Left: A police horse is spooked as a bike is thrown towards it. Right: One of the police horses that bolted hit a person participating in the protest
Protesters holding placards attend a demonstration at the Parliament square
Violence erupted at the BLM protest in June 2020, part of global unrest following the murder of George Floyd by an American
Police line the streets in Whitehall outside Downing Street during the demonstration
Metropolitan Police officers take a knee during a Black Lives Matter protest in London
Her lawyer claims the ‘armed police customarily on duty outside Downing Street’ had been removed because, an official report found, the officers on the ground ‘were coming under attack by the now very hostile and violent crowd’.
But in its defence to the court claim, Scotland Yard said they were right to stand down the elite protection officers, because of the risk of guns being fired. Lawyers for the Met said they were forced to intervene with an ‘active push’ by mounted officers after Downing Street came under serious threat.
In court filings obtained by this newspaper, the force’s barrister, Adam Clemens, wrote: ‘A crowd in the vicinity of the junction of Whitehall and Downing Street appeared either to be focusing, or at least directing some of their ire, on Downing Street itself… There was a genuine concern that protesters might attempt to get into Downing Street.’
He said there had been a ‘risk of a discharge of a firearm, or of members of the public overcoming an armed officer and taking possession of a firearm’.
It had been appropriate to withdraw armed officers and that an ‘active push’, in which several horses moved forward at a medium and controlled trot, ‘was a reasonable, proportionate and appropriate reaction to the threat posed’ by the crowd outside Downing Street, he said.
Downing Street is one of the most heavily protected places in the UK. Gates block entry to the street, which is constantly patrolled by armed police from the diplomatic protection group. There is also usually at least one police officer stationed outside the door of No 10.
The Met emphasised it was officers outside the Downing Street barriers that were withdrawn, suggesting armed guards inside the gates remained on duty.
PC Vernon, 47, was in hospital for eight days after Rocky bolted, having also suffered a collapsed lung, broken collarbone and shattered ribs. She is still receiving treatment more than four years on for post-traumatic stress and anxiety.
The clashes, which took place when Boris Johnson was Prime Minister, left more than two dozen police officers injured
A police officer who was injured when falling off a horse during scuffles with demonstrators at Downing Street during the demonstration
Police line up near Downing after graffiti appeared on the wall in Whitehall
She also alleges the force knew her 14-year-old horse had a history of unsafe behaviour and therefore ‘exposed her to a foreseeable risk of injury’.
The footage of the sickening moment when she was thrown backwards off Rocky when she collided with a traffic light has been viewed around the world.
The Met denies Rocky was prone to ‘bolting’ and while it admits the officer suffered serious physical injuries, it disputes any long-term impact on her mental health or career prospects within the force. The force rejects her £200,000 claim, adding that even if it was successful, it would be worth no more than £100,000. The case is at an early stage and has not yet reached a trial.
A total of 27 Met Police officers were injured during the anti-racism demonstrations.
Protesters clambered on Winston Churchill’s memorial statue in Parliament Square and daubed ‘racist’ on the plinth.
This retreat will test the public’s faith in our police
By Rakib Ehsan
Is there a more egregious erosion yet of the principles of ‘Great’ British policing?
Back in June 2020, the Black Lives Matter protests in London were described as ‘largely peaceful’. That description came from none other than the Metropolitan Police. Now we know the extraordinary truth: that the force cravenly submitted to protesters and left the seat of British democracy vastly more vulnerable.
What happened at Downing Street was not a tactical retreat. This was not General Kutuzov pulling back to successfully suppress Napoleon’s invasion of Russia. Removing armed officers was a straightforward dereliction of duty, which could have had grave consequences.
When the police are faced with a rioting mob, retreating should not be an option.
One can only presume that there was another line of defence inside the gates to protect the then prime minister Boris Johnson – who had been in intensive care with Covid just two months previously – his wife and their baby.
The Mail on Sunday’s revelations are damaging for two reasons. Not only do they weaken public faith in the police, they send a message to other protest groups that, if they are sufficiently threatening, police will give up trying to control them.
For this is not the only time that officers – even unarmed ones – have retreated in the face of an angry mob.
Last July, police withdrew from the Harehills area of Leeds after social services removed four Roma children from their family and riots broke out. Then, a couple of weeks later, unrest exploded in Southport following the murder of three little girls. Faced with gangs of far-Right white rioters, did police retreat on this occasion? Not an inch. More officers were drafted in from neighbouring forces.
The Met emphasised it was officers outside the Downing Street barriers that were withdrawn, suggesting armed guards inside the gates remained on duty
A total of 27 Met Police officers were injured during the anti-racism demonstrations
I have often warned of the risks of ‘two-tier policing’ – where minorities are perceived to be treated differently to white Britons. When this extends to violence and intimidation, I dread to think what this means for public safety.
I have often warned of the risks of ‘two-tier policing’ – where minorities are perceived to be treated differently to white Britons. When this extends to violence and intimidation, I dread to think what this means for public safety.
If the issue is that the Metropolitan Police doesn’t have enough armed officers, then that should be put right. But the failure to properly police riots is not so much an issue of numbers. The BLM riots occurred during the pandemic when there seemed no shortage of officers to hand out fines to people sunbathing in parks or organising ‘parties’ at work. Their failure is more a matter of attitude.
The police need to approach their duties with the professionalism, courage and resolve that the public expects them to have.
Taxpayers will stump up £19.5 billion to fund policing in England and Wales over the next year. In return, we expect our streets to be kept safe and our elected representatives to be defended against angry protesters. When the mob arrived at the gates of Downing Street in 2020, the police buckled. I dread to think what could happen the next time they come baying.
