Fed chair critical of violence at protests

8 June 2020

People are fully entitled to exercise their right to protest but they should still respect the role of police officers in helping maintain the peace and keep order, says the chair of Humberside Police Federation.

Pete Musgrave was speaking after violence marred Black Lives Matter protests in London on Saturday leading to a police woman being hospitalised after falling from her horse and other officers also being injured.

“I think many people were shocked and upset at the scenes they witnessed in the media coverage over the weekend. As police officers, we respect people’s right to protest and we do our best to facilitate those rights but it cannot be right for police officers to be subjected to violence as they go about their duties,” says Pete.

“It is even more alarming when you consider that we are still under the restrictions introduced to try to halt the spread of coronavirus. The fact that people were gathering in their thousands and not adhering to the two-metre social distancing rules not only means that they will have put their own health at risk but also potentially that of police officers and their families.”

Pete’s views echo those of the national chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales, John Apter, who said yesterday: “We utterly condemn the violence that has been directed at our officers – those brave men and women who are protecting the public and at a risk to their own safety – by a thoughtless few, who act with no consideration that police officers are doing their jobs and also have families to go home to at night. It is the actions of these few that people will remember most about these protests, a message distorted from its original intentions.

“The situation is certainly not helped by ill-informed and reprehensible comments by public figures, like Diane Abbott, seeking to draw unhelpful single-issue comparisons between policing in the UK and the United States. These are not comparable. In the UK we police with consent of the public and this ethos is at the heart of how we engage and protect coupled with the highest levels of scrutiny and accountability in the performance of these duties, compared with anywhere else in the world.

“Our message to anyone thinking of participating in protests is, before you do so please think about the risks you are placing on everyone else, including your family.”