Michelle Dewberry has slapped down suggestions that Tommy Robinson attending a St George’s Day event in London was a determining factor in the chaos that ensued.
The GB News presenter disagreed with Quentin Letts from the Daily Mail who suggested the English Defence League (EDL) founder’s presence merited a heavy police presence at the event honouring the patron saint of England.
The Met Police warned ahead of the event that they expected “far right groups and groups linked to football clubs” to attend.
At least six people were then arrested after violence broke out as officers “dealt with disorder”.
Michelle Dewberry questioned whether Tommy Robinson's attendance at an event merited a 'two-tiered police approach'
GB NEWS
Michelle argued that two-tier policing was on display as she compared the event to pro-Palestine demonstrations that have become a regular occurrence on the streets of London and are often criticised for antisemitic slurs.
“Everyone was desperate for this to all kick off”, she said.
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“Images started coming through that showed police kettling in people attending this event because heaven forbid, people have the audacity to step out of the pink, shaded area they have been allowed to stand in.
“I look at it and I think ‘was there any need to kettle these people?, Was there any need to go charging in with that horse?’
“I saw lots of units piling in and police with their helmets. It feels to me like there’s a two-tiered approach to protesting in this country because I don’t see every week in this country this sort of approach.”
Letts countered: “This seems to have had some political flavour to it because speeches were going to be done by Laurence Fox and Tommy Robinson, who is not particularly a hygienic fellow.
Quentin Letts branded Tommy Robinson 'not a hygienic figure'
GB NEWS
Michelle hit back by arguing: “In case anyone’s not familiar, there was a court case where the Met Police were found to have acted in a way against him (Tommy Robinson) that was unlawful.
"He essentially had his case chucked out of court.
The scenes in London prompted frank discussion on GB News
GB NEWS
“He shouldn’t have had the bail conditions attached to him that he had.”
Letts responded to argue that Robinson is “not a neutral character”, a claim Michelle slapped down by asking: “What’s that got to do with it? If someone is not neutral?”
People wave the St George's flag as they attend a demonstration at Richmond TerraceGETTY“This was undoubtedly a political event and the police would have had an eye on it as a result”, said Letts.
Pro-Palestine demonstrations were then raised by Michelle as the debate continued, asking whether the police deal with its attendees in the “same manner”.
“I am reluctant to attack the police without strong evidence otherwise”, Letts said.
“So you think it’s all ‘nothing to see here, the police acted there like they do in every other case?’”, Michelle asked.
The debate concluded with Letts arguing that’s not the case, but he is not sure the police are “bang to rights” after a day of chaos in the capital.
Shortly after confirming that six demonstrators had been arrested, the Metropolitan Police issued a statement on social media.
“The event is not due to start for an hour and regrettably officers are already dealing with disorder,” Scotland Yard said.
“There is an area allocated for this event in Richmond Terrace.
“This group went past it and continued up Whitehall.
“When officers formed a cordon and asked the group to turn round, they reacted by violently forcing their way through.
“Mounted officers intervened with horses to restore the cordon.”