Police arrest 26 in connection with London protest

Admin l Saturday, 03 April 2021

 

LONDON – Not less than 26 people have been arrested by the London Metropolitan Police as part of its operation  in connection with the protest in Central London.

According to the police, they were arrested for a variety of offences including assault on police and breach of the peace. “In one instance, a woman was arrested on suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon after a knife was recovered”, the police said.

Besides, 10 officers  were however injured during the operation.

Speaking on the arrest, Commander Ade Adelekan, who led today’s policing operation, said: “The vast majority of people who turned out in central London today did so while adhering to social distancing.

“They engaged with my officers when required and left when asked – I would like to thank them for doing so. However, a small minority did not engage despite the repeated efforts of officers on the ground. This left us with no option but to move to an enforcement stage and arrests have been made.

“This has been another challenging day for officers on the ground and I want to thank them for their efforts throughout the course of today.

“We remain in the middle of a global pandemic and we have made great progress in controlling the spread of the virus; we will not allow the selfish actions of a small number of people to put Londoners progress in jeopardy”, the police said.