Footage has emerged on social media of the moment when a small group of protestors turned violent towards the police during protests in central London last night.
In a video that has been uploaded to social media, Jacob Young, the MP for Redcar and Cleveland said:
“Tonight I had to leave through a different exit from the Houses of Parliament because of protesters resorting to violence against our police.
“This video is some of them outside 10 Downing Street, throwing things and attacking Police Officers while they were just doing their jobs.
“I support the Black Lives Matter movement, but our Police Officers are not to blame for the actions of Police Officers in America.
“The murder of George Floyd is a tragedy – we should not resort to violence in the UK as a result”.
In the video, a scuffle can be seen to break out between some protestors and heavily outnumbered police officers.
Some demonstrators use their placards to hit the officers as bottles are also thrown at them from the crowd.
Additional officers are called in to assist, and the violence is bought under control.
A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said:
“A total of 13 people were arrested during the policing operations for protests in Westminster on Wednesday and early Thursday.
“We are aware of incorrect social media rumours of damage being caused to the Cenotaph during protests in Whitehall.
“We are not aware of any damage”.
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One word to describe them. Savages. And what senior officer allowed the policing of this violence in shirt sleeves. That was so wrong. The officers were lucky to get out of that in one piece.