Norwich EDL demo and counter demo cost over £100k

Categories: Latest News
Friday December 21 2012
BBC News reports that the cost of policing the English Defence League in Norwich, and counter demonstration by We Are Norwich, last month totaled £128,905.
From the BBC:
“Policing the English Defence League (EDL) demonstration in Norwich and a counter protest by We Are Norwich cost £128,905, police have revealed.
“Officers from 11 forces were on duty as about 200 EDL supporters and up to 2,000 members of the We Are Norwich coalition marched through the city on 10 November.
“Norfolk Police said about 400 police officers took part.”
Assistant Chief Constable for Norfolk Police, Charlie Hall, stated that the plan to protect the demonstrators, public and to minimise disruption in the city was successfully carried out by the local force.
The march was planned by the EDL in protest of the council’s decision on denying a bookstall holder from exhibiting in the town centre after complaints were made about its anti-Islam literature. Four people were initially arrested during the marches. The BBC reports that one man was fined last month “for using threatening words or behaviour during marches in the city”.
Police forces across the UK have incurred significant costs over the years policing far-right demonstrations and counter demonstrations over fears of violence and disruption. Many protests have required the support of hundreds of police officers, some of whom were drafted in from outside police forces. An EDL demonstration held in Bristol this summer required the presence of 700 police officers at a cost of almost £495,000. This week, the Metropolitan Police force stated that it is ‘unable’ to calculate the cost of policing EDL protests and counter protests which took place in Walthamstow, East London, in September and October this year after a Freedom of Information request was put in by a local paper.