Large crowds of far-right extremists have turned violent towards the police as they “guard” controversial statues in London.
Officers in riot gear were punched, assaulted and hit with bottles and smoke bombs as the far-right attendees headed to London in their hundreds in a bid to try and disrupt the planned peaceful Black Lives Matter protests.
Attendees included so-called Football Hooligans and members of the fascist group Britain First and videos are flooding social media of the violent clashes between police and the far-right.
Several journalists have also reported threatening behaviour and violence from the crowds as they attempt to document the events.
According to reports on the ground from the Telegraph’s Ed Clowes, the police have asked a Tesco in the area to stop serving alcohol to the protesters and skirmishes continue to break out at intervals.
See below.
The scenes follow calls from the police and the government for today’s planned marches to be cancelled following safety fears.
There has also been a curfew introduced and heavy policing. Read more about this here.