Police have been accused of “siding” with a rightwing group during violent protests over a drag act’s performance at a south London pub.
A formal complaint has been lodged over the behaviour of Metropolitan police officers during a demonstration organised by Turning Point UK (TPUK) against a storytelling session by drag queen That Girl at the Honor Oak pub in Lewisham.
The mayor of Lewisham, Damien Egan, is also believed to have raised concerns with the Met following accounts of the policing at the TPUK protest last weekend.
In addition, Lewisham councillors are planning to contact Sophie Linden, London’s deputy mayor for policing, to investigate allegations that counter-demonstrators were subject to police aggression even as TPUK supporters threatened and intimidated them.
The incident is the latest in a series of “culture war” protests by far right and rightwing groups aimed at drag queen story-telling events with one recent event leading to arrests outside the Tate Britain art gallery.
A coalition of far-right groups are increasingly targeting the issue including the neo-Nazi Patriotic Alternative and its splinter group, the Independent Nationalist Network.
TPUK – which campaigns against the “tyranny of woke ideology” – has prominent ties with the Conservatives. Tory MP Marco Longhi is listed as its honorary president and the group has been hailed by deputy party chairman Lee Anderson along with former ministers Jacob Rees-Mogg and Priti Patel.
Launched in 2019 as a UK offshoot of a pro-Donald Trump US campaign, TPUK organised the protest outside the pub because it was staging children’s story events hosted by drag acts. TPUK’s Twitter account has called drag acts “groomers”. Activists who organised a counter demonstration in support of the event have dismissed such attempts to tarnish it as “preposterous”, saying they are story-telling sessions for parents and children with “no sexual content”.
A Lewisham councillor, who requested anonymity, alleged that TPUK supporters were aggressive towards counter-demonstrators while police were slow to intervene.
“I observed a number of concerning things during the policing of the protest,” they said. TPUK protesters were allowed to walk up to people outside the pub and film them. Later, several officers, including those from territorial support group [TSG] units, were seen pushing crowds back aggressively and we’ve had reports of serious injuries, including a cracked rib,” they said.
Egan said: “Families have every right to take their children to events they feel are appropriate and should be trusted to make their own judgments.”
Witnesses also claim some officers wore badges offering support for the “thin blue line” movement which in the US is associated with white nationalism, with officers implicated in the Capitol Hill siege. The Met is currently reviewing the wearing of such badges, but states that they are accepted as demonstrating camaraderie among officers and are “not representative of a specific cause, belief or charity”.
However, Liz Fekete, director of the Institute of Race Relations, said: “The Met commissioner [Mark Rowley] says he wants to increase community confidence in police. He could start by stopping his officers elaborating their uniforms with thin blue line badges – a US export often associated with white nationalism.”
An official complaint has been sent from the local branch of the National Education Union to the borough commander after police moved them from outside a primary school opposite the Honor Oak – a space they wanted to protect – but then allowed TPUK to gather there. The complaint accused the police of “siding” with the TPUK.
“The police surrounded our small group and seemed to become aggressive with a lot of pushing. One of our members has reported to me that a police officer put his hands around her neck,” adds the complaint.
Ada Cable, a local woman who was on the protest said: “At a previous protest, fascists had climbed up the fences of the school, and left banners and placards on the fence. Teachers came out to stand near the school so it couldn’t happen again.
“An officer came around and said the teachers were a risk to public order standing next to the school. Police threatened to drag the teachers away, and I saw officers punching and kicking people. I’ve got bruises on my shins from their kicks.”
The Met has been contacted for comment.
TPUK, which has said it has no formal links to the Conservative party, has also been contacted.
• The headline was amended on 7 May 2023. An earlier version called Turning Point UK “far right”. This has been changed to right wing.
