Four women and two men have been charged and will appear at court after a Kill the Bill protest in London where 10 police officers were hurt.
Four of those charged – three women and a man aged between 23 and 39 – have been accused of assaulting an emergency worker.
The other two defendants have been charged with obstructing a constable and all six are due to appear at Westminster magistrates’ court later this month.
Six people have been charged with a range of offences after a protest turned violent. Pictured: A police officer fires pepper spray during Kill the Bill protest in Parliament Square on Saturday
Protestors at a demonstration against the proposed Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill
Thousands of Kill the Bill activists descended on London (pictured) on Saturday as police braced for a weekend of chaos with rallies taking place in towns and cities across the UK
The demonstration, which took place on Saturday, saw thousands of people gather in Parliament Square, London.
Some protestors chanted, banged drums and waved placards at the demo to rail against the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, which will impose certain conditions on future protests.
Projectiles were also thrown by demonstrators and several people were led away in handcuffs.
A small group of around 50-100 protesters in London began to block roads around Parliament Square and chanted anti-police slogans including ‘All Cops Are B******s’.
Pictured: Protestors and police officers pictured in Parliament Square, central London, during Kill the Bill protest. Projectiles were reportedly thrown as police pushed protesters away
Police officers are seen restraining a demonstrator during a ‘Kill the Bill’ protest in London
The Met confirmed that while the vast majority socially distanced and left peacefully, they arrested a total of 107 people at the event on suspicion of a range of offences.
Lucie Nduhirane, 34, of West India Dock Road, E14 has been charged with assaulting an emergency worker.
Michael Thompson, 39, of Elderfield Road, E5, has been charged with assaulting an emergency worker.
Pippa Roikonen, 30, of Queens Road, SE15, has been charged with assaulting an emergency worker.
Tania McCleary, 23, of Palmerston Road, W3 has been charged with assaulting an emergency worker.
Samuel Roberts, 31, of Bowditch, SE8, has been charged with highway obstruction and obstructing a constable.
Estella Moreno, 24, of Reginald Street, Luton, has been charged with obstructing a constable.
The force has today said that 72 people – the vast majority of whom were arrested for breach of the peace – have been released with no further action.
An additional 19 people have been either bailed or released under investigation while nine people have been reported for fines under the Health Protection Regulations.
One person has been issued with a penalty notice for a public order offence.
The protests were in opposition to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, which proposes to give police in England and Wales more power to impose conditions on non-violent protests, including those which are deemed too noisy or a nuisance.
The event was attended by Jeremy Corbyn who addressed the crowds on Saturday afternoon.
The former Labour leader stood next to a statue of Mahatma Gandhi as he spoke at the rally, describing the Government-proposed bill as a ‘very dangerous, slippery slope’ and defending the right to protest.
The former leader of the Labour Party addressed crowds gathered in Parliament Square as he described the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill as a ‘very dangerous, slippery slope’
He said: ‘If we don’t protest, things don’t change’, which drew cheers and applause from onlookers. Close by, anti-lockdown demonstrators staged their own protest, supported by Mr Corbyn’s brother, Piers.
Pictures showed bottles and missiles being thrown as police with riot helmets fired pepper spray and held batons aloft, screaming for the crowd to ‘get back’.
Police were also seen taking away a young woman crying out in pain following clashes at the demo, which began after people marched to Trafalgar Square, with her friends saying she had sustained an injury to her shoulder.
A separate group in Parliament Square was seen demonstrating with anti-sexism slogans, including ‘educate your sons’ and ‘misogyny is the virus’, chanting ‘women scared everywhere, police and Government do not care’.
Pictured: Police intervene as protestors attempt to stop a delivery truck during the ‘Kill the Bill’ protest held in opposition to the Government’s Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill
A demonstrator is seen holding a red smoke flare at the ‘Kill the Bill’ protest n London
By the evening, the Metropolitan Police said ‘a small minority’ of protestors, who were not social distancing, were still in the square and that arrests were being made after they turned down requests to leave.
The majority of protesters from the demonstration, who gathered earlier in the day, had dispersed several hours earlier but those still present shouted ‘shame on you’ repeatedly at officers.
Three Kill the Bill protestors unfurled a banner which read ‘Kill Cops’ and held aloft the incendiary message outside the Houses of Parliament – just 50 metres away from where PC Keith Palmer was stabbed to death in 2017.
