Witness appeal following incident between police officers and protestors during a ‘Yellow Vest March’ in London

23 May 2019 03:55 PM

We are seeking witnesses who may have filmed or seen interactions between police officers and protestors during a ‘Yellow Vest March’ in London on Saturday 16 February this year.

The Metropolitan Police referred the matter to the IOPC having reviewed body worn video footage of the incident after a number of prosecutions against protestors were withdrawn.

We are investigating allegations that some of the police officers may have used excessive force before and during the detention of two suspects.

The first incident took place around 3.20pm on Haymarket, in London’s west end and during it two protestors were pushed by a police officer and a woman was dragged by the arm which resulted in a confrontation between the protestors and police.

Shortly afterwards a protestor was chased and forcibly detained on the road in Jermyn Street, SW1.

IOPC Regional Director Sal Naseem said:

“We have already studied a large amount of police body worn video of these two incidents and we can see that a number of people are filming or watching these interactions with officers.  In order to have the fullest possible picture of the events, we would ask that those people come forward to share their footage and to speak with our investigators.”

Anyone with any footage or information is asked to contact us on 0800 096 9078 or email yellowvestmarch@policeconduct.gov.uk