Brixton: 22 officers injured and police cars smashed after street party

Twenty-two officers have been injured and police cars smashed up during “significant disorder” following an illegal street party in Brixton overnight.

Footage on social media showed a line of police retreating from crowds of people running at them with makeshift weapons on Overton Road near the Angell Town estate in Brixton.

Police said they were called by concerned residents to the illegal street party but were met by a “hostile” crowd.

Boris Johnson has condemned the violence and said the government would shortly be launching a consultation on doubling the maximum sentence for assaulting an emergency worker.

“These were apalling scenes. Violence against the police will not be tolerated,” his spokesman said.

Bottles were thrown at the officers and in one video a man appeared to be brandishing a long pole at them as he said: “Back up.”

Another two men were seen carrying a large wooden table before ripping off its legs and running at the police, who started to retreat as the crowd descended on them.

Two men could be seen on top of a police vehicle smashing in the windscreen with a table leg and their feet.

Another man had what appeared to be a plank of wood and was hitting the back of a police van with it before it was driven off.

After the police had gone, footage showed some of the crowd fighting each other.

None of the officers were seriously injured, but two required hospital treatment.

Four people were arrested for assault and public order offences, and they remain in police custody.

Home Secretary Priti Patel called the incident “vile”.

She tweeted: “These are utterly vile scenes. Just last weekend, the whole country came together to praise our heroic police officers for putting their own lives on the line to keep us safe.

“I’ll be picking up with the Met commissioner immediately.”

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said: “I’m in touch with the Met about the completely unacceptable events in Brixton overnight.

“Violence against the police will not be tolerated. Large gatherings during COVID-19 are deeply irresponsible and risk others’ lives.”

Clipc, who lives on the estate and was at the party, said everyone was having a good time until the police came and “decided to disrupt that”.

He told Sky News: “Where the police try to come and enforce their law, people are not going to be happy with it because we’ve all been quarantined for a long time, [and] just want to enjoy themselves.

“Police came and shut it down to an extent, shut down the music and people kind of rebelled.

“There was people not from the area that came and made more mess with the police and all of that stuff.

“People from the area, when the music calmed down, they just went back indoors. It just got havocy later on in the evening but earlier on in the day it was nice.”

A bus driver called Michael, who did not want to share his second name, lives in Overton Road and said the violence was “very upsetting”.

“The whole thing should have been shut down earlier,” he said.

“People who live here are not the culprits, it’s those damn fools from different areas that come down to tarnish the works and efforts that have been put into the area by the estate management.”

A Met Police statement said officers arrived at the scene on Wednesday evening after numerous calls from residents about a large unlicensed street party.

Officers tried to encourage the crowd to leave as large gatherings are not allowed due to the coronavirus lockdown, but “they did not engage with police”, the statement said.

More officers were called to the scene and the group became hostile towards them and, despite a dispersal zone order being granted, the crowd remained.

The crowd eventually left in the early hours of Thursday and police are now carrying out stop and search orders in the area “to prevent violence”, the statement said.

Met Police Commander Colin Wingrove said: “Our role is to protect the public and ensure guidelines are adhered to in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19, protecting the NHS and saving lives.

“Our officers work incredibly hard to engage and explain the public health message and regulations to prevent such gatherings occurring.”

He called the gatherings “unlawful”, said they posed a risk to public health, and added that violence towards his officers would not be tolerated as he promised those involved would be “brought to justice”.

Ken Marsh, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, said officers faced “an absolute volley of anger and hatred towards the police”.

He called the violence “despicable” and said the police “are human beings as well” and “not punchbags”.

“My colleagues are faced with all sorts of trauma from these incidents. We wish all injured officers well and a swift recovery,” he added.

(c) Sky News 2020: Brixton: 22 officers injured and police cars smashed after street party