The Huffington Post UK
|
By
Aubrey Allegretti
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/11/05/million-mask-march-london-2015-arrests-protest-trafalgur-square-parliament_n_8480438.html?1446750027
Three police officers were treated in hospital on Thursday after
being injured during an anti-capitalist march which also resulted in a
patrol car being torched.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators clad
in Guy Fawkes masks descended on central London to protest capitalism
and digital privacy incursions by state security services. Fifty people
were arrested and early in the evening police apprehended three men,
aged 38, 55 and 50 on suspicion of being in possession of offensive
weapons. The men, said to have been found with knives, gas canisters and
lock picks in Trafalgar Square, remain in custody.
Protester smashes up a burning police car.
One
of the injured officers is believed to have been thrown from a police
horse near Buckingham Palace, an incident that also resulted in the
animal needing treatment. Protesters were said to have fired fireworks
and pointed lasers at police horses. An unattended police car at Queen
Anne's Gate was set ablaze at 7.50pm. Anarchists were later filmed
jumping on and attacking the car.
Police said a "small number of
people" were involved in the incident which was away from the main
protests, and "inquiries into the incident's circumstances continue".
Bonfire Night's '
Million Mask March' was organized by hacktivist collective 'Anonymous', and saw marches being held in 650 other cities across the globe.
Police
ramped up numbers in a bid to curb violence and anti-social behavior,
but Scotland Yard told The Huffington Post UK that 49 people had been
arrested, some three and a half hours after the demonstration was due to
end.
27 of these were for public order offenses, three for
possession of an offensive weapon, two on suspicion of assaulting a
police officer, while three others were arrested on separate counts of
criminal damage, common assault and drug offenses, respectively.
14 other attendees were also arrested, the Met confirmed.
November
5's annual festivities officially kicked off at 6pm on Thursday, with
demonstrators carrying placards, including some saying: "One solution,
revolution."
A curfew was issued for marchers, in anticipation that the event could turn violent, as had been the case in previous years.
Police
only allowed static protest at three points - outside the National
Gallery, opposite the Prime Minister's residence of 10 Downing Street
and on the lawns outside the Houses of Parliament, which was the setting
of Guy Fawkes' gun powder plot exactly 410 year ago today.
Chief Superintendent Pippa Mills spoke out about the event - also dubbed 'Operation November 5'.
She
said: “This year we have strong reason to believe that peaceful protest
is the last thing on the minds of many of the people who will come
along.
Mills also claimed that in 2014 "hundreds of people on
their way home from work, or out enjoying an evening in the capital,
were surrounded by people causing them huge concern".
Police try and block masked demonstrators as they march in central London
A protester wearing a Guy Fawkes mask holds a placard as he stands alongside a burning police car
Masked protesters are stopped by a police line during the Million Mask March
But
her comments were rebutted by the march's organizers in a statement on
Facebook, who said the event was to call for a "positive change in the
world".
"We have seen the abuses and malpractice of this
government, and governments before it, we have seen the encroaching
destruction of many civil liberties we hold dear," they wrote.
A
man is detained by police in Trafalgar Square, London during the
Million Mask March bonfire night protest organised by activist group
Anonymous
Police try and block masked demonstrators as they march from Parliament Square
"We
have seen the pushes to make the internet yet another part of the
surveillance state, we have seen the government's disregard for
migrants, for the poor, the elderly and the handicapped.
"We have seen the capital, profit and greed of the few put before the well-being of the many and we say enough is enough."
Anti-capitalist protesters clash with police officers during last night's march
They
invited fellow activists, workers, students, doctors and nurses - and
"all those that want to see a positive change in the world", to join
them on the November 5th march.
"The government and the 1% have played their hand," they concluded, adding: "Now it is time to play ours."
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JACK TAYLOR via Getty Images
An anti-capitalist protester wearing a Guy
Fawkes mask holds a placard as he stands alongside a burning police car
during the 'Million Masks March', organized by the group Anonymous, in
London on November 5, 2015. The protest was held on the night of
Britain's Guy Fawkes Night, and many of the marchers wore the white
masks of the man who plotted to blow up parliament in 1605, now
associated with Anonymous. AFP PHOTO / JACK TAYLOR (Photo
credit should read JACK TAYLOR/AFP/Getty Images)
-
Rex
A police car is attacked and set on fire
near Scotland Yard - The annual Million Mask March bonfire night protest
started in Trafalgar Square and headed to Westminster where it
splintered.
-
Yui Mok/PA Wire
A photographer lays on the floor, after
being hit by an Aston Martin which was surrounded by protesters in Lower
Grosvenor Place, near Victoria in London, during the Million Mask March
bonfire night protest organized by activist group Anonymous.
-
Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire
A man is detained by police on Regent Street
in London during the Million Mask March bonfire night protest organized
by activist group Anonymous.
-
Rex
A police car is attacked and set on fire
near Scotland Yard - The annual Million Mask March bonfire night protest
started in Trafalgar Square and headed to Westminster where it
splintered.
-
JACK TAYLOR via Getty Images
Anti-capitalist protesters wearing Guy
Fawkes masks clash with British police officers during the 'Million
Masks March', organized by the group Anonymous, near the Houses of
Parliament in London on November 5, 2015. The protest was held on the
night of Britain's Guy Fawkes Night, and many of the marchers wore the
white masks of the man who plotted to blow up parliament in 1605, now
associated with Anonymous. AFP PHOTO / JACK TAYLOR (Photo
credit should read JACK TAYLOR/AFP/Getty Images)
-
Rex
A police car is attacked and set on fire
near Scotland Yard - The annual Million Mask March bonfire night protest
started in Trafalgar Square and headed to Westminster where it
splintered.
-
JACK TAYLOR via Getty Images
An anti-capitalist protester wearing a Guy
Fawkes mask holds placards as he stands alongside a damaged British
police car during the 'Million Masks March', organized by the group
Anonymous, in London on November 5, 2015. The protest was held on the
night of Britain's Guy Fawkes Night, and many of the marchers wore the
white masks of the man who plotted to blow up parliament in 1605, now
associated with Anonymous. AFP PHOTO / JACK TAYLOR (Photo
credit should read JACK TAYLOR/AFP/Getty Images)
-
JACK TAYLOR via Getty Images
An anti-capitalist protesters wearing a Guy
Fawkes mask carries a traffic cone during the 'Million Masks March'
protest march, organized by the group Anonymous, as it passes Parliament
Square in London on November 5, 2015. The protest was held on the night
of Britain's Guy Fawkes Night, and many of the marchers wore the white
masks of the man who plotted to blow up parliament in 1605, now
associated with Anonymous. AFP PHOTO / JACK TAYLOR (Photo
credit should read JACK TAYLOR/AFP/Getty Images)
-
JACK TAYLOR via Getty Images
Anti-capitalist protesters wearing Guy
Fawkes masks hold placards at the start of the 'Million Masks March', organized by the group Anonymous, at Trafalgar Square in London on
November 5, 2015. The protest was held on the night of Britain's Guy
Fawkes Night, and many of the marchers wore the white masks of the man
who plotted to blow up parliament in 1605, now associated with
Anonymous. AFP PHOTO / JACK TAYLOR (Photo credit should read
JACK TAYLOR/AFP/Getty Images)
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