I’ve been reading some of the statements from the Metropolitan Police regarding the various big demonstrations that are taking place in London this weekend. They make interesting reading in so far as they show that the police are placing conditions on both the Free Tommy / Welcome Trump demonstrations and the also opponents of these groups.

There are restrictions being placed on the Welcome Trump march organised by Luke Nash-Jones of Make Britain Great Again, such as conditions relating to the form up location, form up time and the march route. However I noticed that the police are stating that there are also restrictions being placed on the far Left counter demonstrators. The Leftists are restricted from bringing vehicles into the demonstration and from using a vehicle mounted stage at their rally in Portland Place. It is apparent from reading the police statement on this matter that the police have some concerns about adequate stewarding by the Lefties in Portland Place.

The police are using the aggro that broke out at in one small section of the last Free Tommy rally as an excuse to impose these conditions and although I have doubts whether or not the Free Tommy people started the aggro, this is the worrying after effect of said aggro. The Metropolitan Police said:

A recent event involving the ‘Free Tommy Robinson’ group on June 9, resulted in serious violence in central London, with bottles, metal barriers and other objects thrown at police officers. Five officers suffered injuries and there were nine arrests.

As a seasoned attender of demonstrations in the past both for personal and photojournalistic work reasons, I must say that nine arrests out of a crowd of at least 15,000 looks pretty small. The violence of course needs to be condemned and I’m very happy to do that. I think the small amount of violence that happened last time was counterproductive. It has had the effect of giving the police excuses to impose restrictions. This is why it is important to resist provocations to hit back no matter whether they come from the Left or from the Police or from anybody else.

It’s pretty obvious that the police are worried. They are worried that London may see lots of different marches from both the Right and the Left and these groups may come into conflict. I believe that the police have found out to their cost in the past, that spontaneous marches and protests are very difficult to police effectively and are therefore using the Public Order Act to permit only those groups that are engaging with the police over organisation. On the patriot side this would be the Free Tommy and the Welcome Trump marches. Similar conditions appear to be being placed on the various Leftist groups who are also engaged in protests against President Trump and against the Free Tommy rally. For example the police are allowing Unite Against Fascism and associated groups to protest in Parliament Street but they will be strictly controlled. On this issue the police said:

• Assemble in Parliament Street, South of the police barrier line
• Any assembly must start no earlier than noon and finish at 18:30hrs.
• If you take part in any assembly at this location, you must adhere to these conditions and failure to do so may lead to arrest and prosecution.

It looks to me like the police may have an inkling here about the sort of violence engendered by the Left which would explain why their protest against the Free Tommy Rally is effectively a protest in a ‘kettle’.

I noted that the Public Order Act restrictions do not apply to the ‘Stand Up To Racism’ demonstration that is gathering in Old Palace Yard and marching to Parliament Street. But this may indicate that this Stand Up To Racism demo is relatively small and is not going to parade a long way to get to Parliament Street and is therefore less of a policing problem.

Of course I understand that during the preparation for the Patriot events such as the Welcome Trump march, there has allegedly been some obstruction from the police with claims that the police have tried to stop the march by putting pressure on the organisers. However, from reading the police’s statement on the Public Order Act issues it seems that some of most of the issues that the police may have had with the pro-Trump march may well have been resolved.

For reasons that are probably obvious from reading my writing, I am not the greatest fan of what Britain’s police forces have become, but on this occasion it seems that the police are giving the impression that they are trying to be even handed. There are restrictions on both sides on routes, timings and gathering places which looks much fairer than I expected to see when it came to Public Order Act restrictions.

Let’s get out there and do Tommy Robinson proud and also show President Trump that the Lefties do not own the narrative when it comes to his presidency. Let’s protest loudly, with passion, with a sense of righteousness but let’s do it peacefully. Let’s leave the mindless violence to those who seem to specialise in it, the political Left. Remember, London is still under a constant terrorist threat and our right to protest does make a call on police resources and these resources may be needed to keep us safe from Islamic terrorism. We should do our best not to waste these resources and we can do that by being peaceful and not giving the enemy the bad image of us that they crave.

If we want to Free Tommy, free our speech and free our nation from the dangerous ideologies that are destroying it then we have to go about it the right way. I’ll see you all in Whitehall. Let’s go!