Met Police releases details for ‘significant’ operation across Remembrance weekend

Published

11 months ago

November 10, 2023

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More than 2,000 officers from the Metropolitan Police and other UK forces will be on duty for a “significant” operation across Remembrance weekend.

The Met says its plan covers both Armistice and Remembrance events as well as a significant march by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

A political row erupted this week over comments made by Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who criticised the Met over its decision to allow the pro-Palestine protests to go ahead.

Follow live developments in the Israel-Hamas war

After meeting the Met commissioner, the prime minister said he will hold the force accountable for allowing the demonstrations to go ahead.

In a lengthy statement, the force said: “We know the cumulative impact continued protest, increasing tensions, and rising hate crimes are having across London and the fear and anxiety our Jewish communities, in particular, are feeling.

“They have a right to feel safe in their city, knowing they can travel across London without feeling afraid of intimidation or harassment.

“We’ll be using an extensive set of powers to prevent any disruption whatsoever to Remembrance events, policing the demonstration as it passes through parts of the capital, while protecting our communities from those intent on inciting hate, violence and disorder.”

The police have set up exclusion zones covering the Cenotaph, Whitehall, Horse Guards Parade, the Westminster Abbey Field of Remembrance and other relevant areas.

They say “anyone believed to be part of, or associated with, the pro-Palestinian demonstration trying to assemble in this area can be arrested”.

The Met has detailed the powers it will be exercising over the weekend, putting exclusion zones in place in Whitehall, Horse Guards Parade, the Westminster Abbey Field of Remembrance and other relevant areas, adding anyone on the pro-Palestinian march in these areas will be arrested.

The Cenotaph will have a 24-hour police presence, the Met added.

Officers will also insist people marching stick to the pre-agreed routes and do not enter the US and Israeli embassies.

There will also be dispersal zones in Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Circus, and officers will have stop and search powers in areas around Westminster, and parts of Wandsworth and Lambeth.

Sky’s crime correspondent Martin Brunt said main protest organisers have already agreed that demonstrators do not intend to go anywhere near those areas and will stick to a designated marching route from Hyde Park across the River Thames to the US Embassy.

There will also be interventions for people planning vehicle convoys through Jewish areas of London, with the Met saying specialist officers will be in those areas, and people committing offences will be arrested.

Elsewhere, police will monitor intimidation of poppy sellers, with the Met saying there have been concerns raised over their safety in the last week.

“Alongside our colleagues at the British Transport Police we have been clear no intimidation of those who so generously give up their time for this treasured national cause will be tolerated” the force said.

“Officers know the risk felt by sellers and should be sought out by anyone concerned throughout the weekend.”

The Metropolitan Police added: “Each week we’ve developed our tactics to more quickly deal with anyone committing crime locally in our communities and at significant events.

“Our operation covers every element of this weekend and will continue to develop as we gather intelligence and learn of new issues.”

The stringent measures are no surprise

The police measures come as no surprise – lots of cops, exclusion zones and a strict time limit.

It’s all aimed at preventing breakaway groups from moving off and causing trouble away from the main protest.

The march organisers have already agreed not to clash with Armistice Day ceremonies around iconic sites such as the Cenotaph and other war memorials.

But police believe the biggest threat of disorder comes from those planning counter demonstrations, especially far-right groups who have issued rallying calls for their supporters to meet in central London.

Over the past four weeks of protests the Met, under early widespread criticism, increased its arrest rate and says the new restrictions will enable officers to move faster and more robustly against troublemakers.

The commissioner Sir Mark Rowley believes he can cope and, anyway, does not have intelligence of a threat of serious public disorder that would enable him to ask for a complete ban on the march.

His job may not be on the line, but the reputation of him and his force, after a troubled two years, certainly is.

UK

Anthony Joshua defeated by Daniel Dubois in IBF world heavyweight title at Wembley Stadium

Published

5 hours ago

September 22, 2024

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Anthony Joshua defeated by Daniel Dubois in IBF world heavyweight title at Wembley Stadium

Anthony Joshua missed out on the chance to become a three-time heavyweight world champion after he was stopped by British rival Daniel Dubois in the fifth round.

Dubois, 27, knocked down Joshua towards the end of the opening round with an overhand right to the 34-year-old’s chin.

The IBF heavyweight champion then dropped Joshua at the end of round three and twice in the fourth.

A right hook ended the fight with a knockout for Dubois’ first defence of the title.

The fighters went toe to toe at London’s Wembley Stadium in front of a record 96,000 fans.

‘We came up short’

Minutes after retaining the IBF championship, Dubois shouted to the crowd “are you not entertained?” before saying: “I’m a gladiator, you know?

“I’m just a warrior to the bitter end. I’m just ready to go. I want to go to the top level of this game and reach my potential. God bless you all.”

Joshua said the loss would not stop him from rebuilding despite admitting “we came up short”.

“You know I’m ready to kick off in the ring, but I’m going to keep my cool, keep very professional, and give respect to my opponent,” he said.

“I’m always saying to myself I’m a fighter for life… We keep rolling the dice. I had a sharp opponent, a fast opponent and a lot of mistakes from my end, but that’s the game.”

Dubois’ victory has sent a message to the whole heavyweight division

Jacquie Beltrao

Sports presenter

Daniel Dubois will feel like he has fulfilled his destiny here at Wembley. His father has trained him to be a champion boxer since he was tiny.

He held the IBF belt, but he has gone in there tonight and defended it in spectacular fashion – he is now in every conversation going forward.

What now for AJ? Can he face rebuilding? And will he even want to?

The Wembley ring walk is notoriously long, and Dubois looked nervous – but so did Joshua, who has done this many times before in front of a full house.

Perhaps he was thinking of what was at stake – the chance to be a three-time heavyweight champion of the world.

But 27-year-old Dubois holds the belt and was keen to prove he was a worthy champion quickly.

Many wondered if Dubois would freeze on the biggest stage: Question asked and answered emphatically.

It was a crushing defeat for Joshua – most were not expecting such a one-sided victory.

Dubois will now most likely take on the winner of Fury v Usyk 2 for all the belts. But the manner of his victory has sent a message to the whole heavyweight division.

Hearn: AJ will want rematch

Promoter Eddie Hearn then said “it was the first round” where Joshua lost, “after that he was fighting on heart and desire”.

Hearn added: “When you are in there with a massive puncher this is what can happen. He never stopped trying to get up, even when he couldn’t get up.

“Daniel deserves credit, he’s a real world champion. Congratulations to him… I’m sure [Joshua will] exercise that rematch clause, it’s a given, it’s a dangerous fight because he’s growing in confidence all the time but he’ll believe he can beat him.”

British champion Dubois, who before tonight had never fought at Wembley, was elevated to the IBF title holder after Oleksandr Usyk relinquished the belt.

Joshua outweighed Dubois by four pounds, despite a career-heaviest weight for his rival, ahead of the fight.

Among those watching was Tyson Fury, the former WBC heavyweight champion, who took a ringside seat.

Liam plays Oasis hits

Fury is set to fight Usyk for the other three titles in a rematch on 21 December.

Ahead of the fight, Liam Gallagher played some of Oasis’ biggest hits to the sold-out crowd.

The 52-year-old frontman walked on to a massive cheer and said “yes Wembley vibes in the air,” before launching into Rock ‘N’ Roll Star, Supersonic and Cigarettes & Alcohol.

He and Noel Gallagher will play Wembley for their first of seven reunion shows at the stadium on 25 July – 307 days away.

Other famous faces ringside were Irish MMA fighter Conor McGregor, former boxer Ricky Hatton, Spice Girl Emma Bunton and Love Island presenter Maya Jama.

UK

Mohamed al Fayed: Former royal security head says he warned Royal Family before Diana went on holiday with businessman

Published

11 hours ago

September 21, 2024

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Mohamed al Fayed: Former royal security head says he warned Royal Family before Diana went on holiday with businessman

The former head of royal protection says he warned the Royal Family about Mohamed al Fayed’s reputation before Princess Diana took her sons on holiday with him.

The former Harrods owner, who died last year at the age of 94, was described as a “monster” earlier this week by lawyers representing 37 alleged sexual abuse victims.

The women say he raped and sexually assaulted them while they worked at the luxury department store, prowling the shop floor and “cherry-picking” women to be brought to his executive suite.

Now, Mr Davies says people were aware of the Egyptian businessman’s reputation as far back as the 1990s, and that he raised concerns about him to the Royal Family.

“This was a man who I would be concerned [about] if a relative of mine was going on holiday with him, let alone the future king and his brother and their mother, Princess Diana,” Dai Davies told Sky News.

In July 1997, a month before she died, Princess Diana went on holiday with Fayed and his wife to their residence in St Tropez.

She took the two young princes with her – a holiday Prince Harry described as “heaven” in his 2023 memoir Spare.

“I was horrified because I was aware of some of the allegations even then that were going around,” said Mr Davies.

“I was aware that he had tried very hard to ingratiate himself with the Royal Family and obviously knowing, as I did, the reputation he was alleged [to have] then, I was concerned, and I took the opportunity to inform the Royal Family.”

Mr Davies says he was told: “Her Majesty is aware.”

“The rest is history,” he said.

Buckingham Palace told Sky News it had no comment on the allegations.

Fulham ‘deeply disturbed’ by allegations

Fulham FC, a football club that was owned by Fayed between 1997 and 2013, has said it is “deeply troubled” by the dozens of “disturbing” sexual abuse allegations against the businessman.

The Premier League club also said it is “in the process of establishing whether anyone at the club is or has been affected” by this alleged behaviour.

However, Gaute Haugenes, who managed the club’s women’s team between 2001 and 2003, told the BBC extra precautions were taken to protect female players from Fayed.

“We were aware he liked young, blonde girls. So we just made sure that situations couldn’t occur. We protected the players.”

‘The door was locked behind me’

A former Harrods employee told Sky News she was summoned to Fayed’s apartment when she began working for the department store at 19 years old.

She was told the meeting was a “job review” before “the door was locked behind me”.

“I saw his bedroom door partially open – there were sex toys on view,” she said.

“I felt petrified. I perched myself at the very end of the sofa and then… my boss, the person I worked for, pushed himself onto me.”

Harrods said in a statement on Thursday it was “utterly appalled” by the allegations of abuse and apologised to Fayed’s alleged victims.

The department store has also set up a page on its website inviting former employees to come forward if they have allegations.

The legal team involved in a civil claim against Harrods for allegedly failing to provide a safe system of work for its employees said they aimed to seek justice for the victims of a “vast web of abuse”.

UK

Lily Allen says she had her children for ‘all the wrong reasons’

Published

11 hours ago

September 21, 2024

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Lily Allen says she had her children “for all the wrong reasons,” at a “high pressure” point in her career when she felt “overwhelmed”.

The singer and actress had her two daughters, Marnie, 12 and Ethel, 11, with her ex-husband Sam Cooper when she was in her mid-20s.

By the time she became a mum, she’d already had hit singles including Smile and The Fear, released two studio albums and received a Brit Award for best British female solo artist.

Speaking about motherhood on the BBC podcast Miss Me?, which Allen hosts with her long-time friend Miquita Oliver, she said: “I think I had children for all the wrong reasons, really.

“Because I was yearning for unconditional love, which I haven’t felt in my life since I was a child.”

The now 39-year-old star added: “And also, my career was at such high speed, high pressure, and I felt like very overwhelmed by what was happening. I just didn’t get much respite you know?

“And I felt like the only way to stop people hassling me was to say, ‘It’s not about me, actually this is about this other person that’s inside me’.

When asked by Oliver if it worked, Allen says: “Yeah, they did leave me alone. I don’t think I really understood what was happening, what I got myself into.”

The daughter of actor Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen, she went on to discuss her own childhood.

“My mum, bless her, had children really early as well, and she really struggled. But she doesn’t really talk about the struggle. And so… She inadvertently gaslit me into thinking it was, you know, easy.

“You just sort of throw the kid over your shoulder and you get on with it.

“Her job was very static, and in one place and went to an office and mine wasn’t like that at all. It wasn’t easy. It just wasn’t easy.”

The ‘nasty scars’ caused by absent parents

Allen previously told the Radio Times podcast that while she loves her children, having them “ruined her career”.

She said her decision to prioritise them over her pop career was a decision she made so as not to inflict the “nasty scars” of being an “absent” parent onto them.

She also said the myth of having it all “really annoyed” as it simply was not true.

Allen, whose younger brother is Game Of Thrones actor Alfie Allen, married Stranger Things star David Harbour in 2020.

Away from her music career, Allen has branched out into acting over the last few years, starring in two plays in London’s West End, and winning a role in Sky drama Dreamland last year.