Claims of 'two-tier policing' are 'utter nonsense', Met police boss Mark Rowley says amid riots
7 August 2024, 13:58
The most senior police officer in the UK has hit back at claims that police treat right-wing protesters any differently from people on the left.
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Some commentators, and people who have taken part in violent anti-immigration protests over the past week have made claims of "two-tier policing", with some groups supposedly treated more aggressively than others.
But Sir Mark Rowley, the commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said the claims were "nonsense", adding that people promoting such a view were potentially endangering officers. The government has also rejected the claims.
He said: "We have commentators from either end of the political spectrum who like to throw accusations of bias at the police because we stand in the middle, we operate independently under the law without fear or favour.
"And if you’ve got crazy views over there, you don’t like it, and if you’ve got crazy views over there, you don’t like it. We will continue to do that.
"The serious voices who echo those are of more concern to me, because the risk is they legitimise it, and they legitimise the violence that the officers I’m sending on mutual aid today will face on the streets.
"They are putting them at risk by suggesting that any of those officers are going out with any intent other than to operate without fear or favour in protecting communities."
Sir Mark caused a minor stir on Tuesday after grabbing a reporter's microphone after being asked a question about two-tier policing.
The police chief was walking from a government meeting in Whitehall when he was asked the question. He later apologised.
A spokesperson for the police denied that Sir Mark was upset by anything that had been said during the meeting.
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It comes as more than 100 areas are set to be targeted by far-right protesters in yet another evening of violence.
The gatherings on Wednesday are expected to be across 41 police forces with thousands of officers on standby, LBC understands.
Immigration centres and lawyers' offices are anticipated to be the main focus of the protests.
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However, police officers could also be deployed to hotels housing asylum seekers.
Since Monday, almost 6,000 police officers have been mobilised to deal with the unrest, referred to Sir Keir Starmer as Britain's 'standing army'.
Of the 6,000 officers, 3,750 from the national policing reserve are on standby to be deployed locally and 2,000 are on standby to be deployed regionally and nationally.
