KNOWN TROUBLEMAKERS could be barred from future demonstrations, home secretary Theresa May said, following the violence that marred Saturday’s march organised by the Trades Union Congress against government cuts.
Ms May said she would not hesitate to copy powers used to ban football hooligans from going to matches, if it would help police tackle future violence.
Police have charged 149 of the 201 people arrested with various offences that saw attacks on shops, a hotel and banks. They face court appearances on May 9th.
Describing the hundreds involved in violence, compared to the 250,000-plus who marched peacefully, the home secretary said they were “gangs of thugs” who were intent on causing “mindless” violence in the city.
Fifty-six police officers were injured, including 12 of whom needed hospital treatment, along with 53 members of the public, said Ms May, who defended the Met against charges that its long-planned operation had failed.
“The police might not have managed to prevent every act of violence but they were successful in preventing wider criminality and are now actively engaged in investigating the perpetrators so that they can be brought to justice,” she said.
Police are now going through hundreds of hours of CCTV tapes to identify those protesters who wore balaclavas during attacks in Piccadilly and Oxford Street, said commander Bob Broadhurst. “Their intent appeared to be to cause havoc,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Labour Party is livid with Conservative mayor of London Boris Johnson who claimed it was “quietly satisfied by the disorder – a token, they will tell themselves, of the public feeling that is out there to exploit”.
In his Daily Telegraphcolumn, Mr Johnson wrote: "We have finally heard Labour's response to the fiscal crisis bequeathed to the nation by Gordon Brown. The plan is to get a load of aggressive crusties and Lefties to attack the Ritz hotel, to storm Fortnum's, and to cause so much argy-bargy that 4,500 police officers are obliged to waste their time (and our money) in putting out the bonfires and controlling events as peacefully as they can."
Describing the allegation as outlandish, Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman said: “I think he should withdraw it because it’s completely wrong and I think it really says more about his twisted politics than it says about us.”