On the 1 June 2013, over 1,000 Anti-Fascists came together outside the Houses of Parliament in London, to oppose a British National Party plan to desecrate the Cenotaph war-memorial in Whitehall. Using what were in effect classic tactics of Gandhian non-violent resistance, Anti-Fascists linked arms to block one corner of Parliament Square, successfully preventing the BNP from crossing the Square to insult British war-dead at the Cenotaph in nearby Whitehall.

In order to try to break the Anti-Fascist blockade and facilitate the Fascist march, and wise to the fact that they probably couldn't truncheon Anti-Fascists over the head without their own faces being photographed and circulated on-line, the Metropolitan Police resorted to the less visibly conspicuous tactic of booting Anti-Fascists in the shins, crippling teacher Amy Jowett in the process. Clearly showing what the Anti-Fascists were protesting against, the waiting "ranks" of (sparse) BNP supporters used their rallying-point to fly the flag of sectarian terrorists the Ulster Volunteer Force.

59 Anti-Fascists were arrested by the cops during the anti-BNP counter-protest, 54, were (after much police harassment) released without charge, then, just yesterday, the police case against the 5 remaining defendants collapsed in court. The Met presented the risible "dog ate my homework" excuse that, after nearly a year spent planning their prosecution, the case couldn't proceed because they'd overlooked the fact that their star witness, Chief Inspector John Williams, was on holiday!

Of course this excuse is a pack of lies, but if the Met are reduced to pretending they can't keep track of dates, that suggests there might be something even more embarrassing that avoiding the scrutiny of a court-case helps them hide. The Guardian implied, for instance, that the 5 defendants might have been selected for prosecution because 2 of them are elected trades-union officials and a 3rd had brought a civil action against the police! Could it be because the Met feared showing officers' faces could lead Amy Jowett to identify which cop broke her leg?

This news comes after revelations that Met Police officers shredded a literal lorry-load of evidence to cover-up for serious and systematic police corruption, spied on the family of murder victim Stephen Lawrence, planned to commit crimes as serious as violent kidnappings, and (after god-knows-how-many police killings) reports that officers "could" face criminal charges for perjury and perverting the course of justice in relation to the police killing of Sean Rigg.

 http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/15/anti-fascist-prosters-criminalised-civil-liberties-at-risk

 http://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/met-officer-broke-leg-of-protester-at-rally-against-bnp-9073755.html

Photos of cop faces & UVF flag on anti-BNP demo 1 June 2013 -
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2014/01/514899.html?c=on