Metropolitan Police Federation statement on policing protests and supporting our colleagues in the eye of political and media storm

Policing protests is an incredibly complex area of policing.

Every weekend Metropolitan Police officers are having their leave and days off cancelled to facilitate these protests - while their normal job patrolling their local boroughs is just not getting done.

Recurring protest marches in Central London are putting a huge strain on our colleagues. Everyone – particularly in the press and politicians - seemingly has an opinion on our work and what we do.

Whilst the protests we have seen are in the main peaceful, the constant criticism and the trial by social media our officers suffer whilst policing them is as unfair to hard working police officers.

Our colleagues on the front line are in a near impossible job. Dammed if we do dammed if we don’t whilst trying to keep London moving and keep people safe.

The Metropolitan Police Federation is happy to play its part in trying to move forward with the best interests of all Londoners at heart. We have had a productive conversation with Gideon Falter over the weekend and are in discussions with the senior leaders of the Metropolitan Police who are overseeing the command and control of these demonstrations.

What we can also say is we are in contact with the officer in the eye of this latest political and media storm. None of us have the benefit of hindsight when dealing with real-time spontaneous incidents. Our colleague has the full support of the Federation.