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Bloke 'smacks police horse with brolly' as St George's Day trouble erupts
A man appeared to strike a police horse with an umbrella as officers clashed with a crowd draped in England flags, in Whitehall, London, during St George's Day celebrations today (April 23)
A man appeared to strike a police horse with an umbrella as officers clashed with a crowd draped in England flags, in Whitehall, London, during St George's Day celebrations today (April 23)
A bloke appeared to strike a police horse with a brolly as officers clashed with revellers at a St George's Day event in London.
Trouble flared up in the Whitehall area of the capital where hordes of people gathered today (Tuesday, April 23), many draped in English flags. A brawl allegedly started when those present tried to leave a pre-agreed area for the celebrations, officers said.
The Metropolitan Police released footage of the skirmish, which shows two police horses amongst the chaos. As a white animal trots towards the crowd to maintain a barrier, one man appears to strike it on the face with an umbrella.
It doesn't look as though the impact was particularly forceful, but the horse can be seen to recoil. Ahead of celebrations kicking off, the force had warned those attending the event were expected to include "far right groups and groups linked to football clubs travelling from elsewhere in the UK".
Indeed, the footage shows some of the St George's Crosses on people's backs emblazoned with the word 'MILLWALL' after the football team from South East London.
Writing on X (formerly Twitter) about the incident involving the horses specifically, the Met said: "The event is not due to start for an hour and regrettably officers are already dealing with disorder.
"There is an area allocated for this event in Richmond Terrace. This group went past it and continued up Whitehall. When officers formed a cordon and asked the group to turn round, they reacted by violently forcing their way through.
"Mounted officers intervened with horses to restore the cordon."
A trifecta of the Met, British Transport Police and the City of London Police has assembled to deal with trouble today. "The officers’ primary role is to ensure the safety of participants and the public, but they will not hesitate to respond in the event of disorderly behaviour or other offences," the Met said.
The force added that people had been spotted wearing masks, and that a Section 60AA order, giving officers the power to require the removal of face coverings, is now in force in the boroughs of Lambeth and Westminster. A Section 60 order, giving officers additional search powers, is also in force in the same area to prevent crime and disorder.
The event officially started at 3pm, and is slated to finish by 5pm. Trouble kicked off around 2pm. In an update at around 3pm, the Met said that there had been no further incidents since the altercation and that there was still a significant police presence.
Daily Star Sunday
A man appeared to strike a police horse with an umbrella as officers clashed with a crowd draped in England flags, in Whitehall, London, during St George's Day celebrations today (April 23)
A man appeared to strike a police horse with an umbrella as officers clashed with a crowd draped in England flags, in Whitehall, London, during St George's Day celebrations today (April 23)
A bloke appeared to strike a police horse with a brolly as officers clashed with revellers at a St George's Day event in London.
Trouble flared up in the Whitehall area of the capital where hordes of people gathered today (Tuesday, April 23), many draped in English flags. A brawl allegedly started when those present tried to leave a pre-agreed area for the celebrations, officers said.
The Metropolitan Police released footage of the skirmish, which shows two police horses amongst the chaos. As a white animal trots towards the crowd to maintain a barrier, one man appears to strike it on the face with an umbrella.
It doesn't look as though the impact was particularly forceful, but the horse can be seen to recoil. Ahead of celebrations kicking off, the force had warned those attending the event were expected to include "far right groups and groups linked to football clubs travelling from elsewhere in the UK".
Indeed, the footage shows some of the St George's Crosses on people's backs emblazoned with the word 'MILLWALL' after the football team from South East London.
Writing on X (formerly Twitter) about the incident involving the horses specifically, the Met said: "The event is not due to start for an hour and regrettably officers are already dealing with disorder.
"There is an area allocated for this event in Richmond Terrace. This group went past it and continued up Whitehall. When officers formed a cordon and asked the group to turn round, they reacted by violently forcing their way through.
"Mounted officers intervened with horses to restore the cordon."
A trifecta of the Met, British Transport Police and the City of London Police has assembled to deal with trouble today. "The officers’ primary role is to ensure the safety of participants and the public, but they will not hesitate to respond in the event of disorderly behaviour or other offences," the Met said.
The force added that people had been spotted wearing masks, and that a Section 60AA order, giving officers the power to require the removal of face coverings, is now in force in the boroughs of Lambeth and Westminster. A Section 60 order, giving officers additional search powers, is also in force in the same area to prevent crime and disorder.
The event officially started at 3pm, and is slated to finish by 5pm. Trouble kicked off around 2pm. In an update at around 3pm, the Met said that there had been no further incidents since the altercation and that there was still a significant police presence.
Daily Star Sunday