The day passed trouble free, with none of the disorder, violence and destruction witnessed at
similar EDL demonstrations in other parts of the country. In fact, Chief Superintendent Tim Jacques, Divisional Commander for Preston, said: "Although there were minor scuffles amongst the EDL demonstrators, there were only 14 arrests for drunken or disorderly behaviour."
Despite the lack of violence and vandalsim, mounted police took the puzzling decision to force Christmas shoppers and onlookers, along with some stray EDL supporters down an already crowded Friargate towards the busy ring road. This action turned a calm situation into a potential flashpoint.
The map below shows the location of the two demonstrations and where police herded the watching public to.
View EDL Protest in a larger map
As the video below shows, the EDL supporters were vocal and although they threw some smoke canisters and bangers, the public were in no danger, mainly due to how the event was organised between the protesters and police.
Towards the end of the video, you can see police begin to move spectators and shoppers down behind the main body of spectators towards Friargate. Behind these shoppers, are mounted police which can be quite intimidating.
This second video shows the mounted police herding the mixture of shoppers, spectators and a handfull of EDL supporters down Friargate. You will hear a policeman clearly state that they were only being moved to the first point on the map where Friargate and Market Street converge. Apparantly, this decision was made following a flare being thrown and a scuffle breaking out within the penned off area. However, the public were clearly far enough away from the demonstration to be completely safe. Why the police then took the decision to force them further away is a mystery.
The police statements and press reports make no mention of this show of police force. Chief Superintendent Tim Jacques stated
Today's (Saturday) events have passed mostly without incident and I would like to thank the local community for their help and tolerance during the events and the lead up to them. All our officers and staff should also be commended for their efforts, as well as those who have worked alongside us from other organisations, in particular Preston City Council.
Preston is proud to be a diverse and understanding city where people respect each other and get on well together. The aim of today was to allow peaceful protest which we have demonstrated is possible through careful planning and successful communication at all levels.The report in local paper, the Lancashire Evening Post is challenged in their own comments section by 'Pontius' who questions not only the figures given by the police and paper of 1,000 protesters, but also the lack of any mention of the forced removal of people simply curious or out shopping. 'Pontius' also describes the police operation as 'uncoordinated' and draws attention to them 'dragging innocent shoppers out of shops and demanding shopkeepers closed their businesses. At one point in the second video you will see a group of police identify a target in the crowd before removing them for no apparent reason, causing a scuffle in which some reporters were trapped.
The lack of accurate reporting by the local paper nor any police comment about this makes me wonder whether the police themselves are unsure why they acted this way or embarrassed about the action they took, coercing and intimidating innocent members of the public and placing them in a potentially volatile situation by penning them in with stray elements from the EDL.
