Seventeen people have been arrested in an unplanned protest outside Downing Street following the Conservatives' election victory, the Met police say.

Protesters waved banners with anti-austerity slogans and placards calling for proportional representation as police in riot gear looked on.

The police said four officers and a staff member were injured.

A police investigation is under way after graffiti, referring to "Tory scum" was daubed on a war memorial.
The Women's War Memorial in Whitehall, unveiled in 2005 by the Queen, is yards from where a concert to commemorate the 70th anniversary of VE Day was taking place.

Seventeen different sets of clothing and uniforms are sculpted around the sides of the bronze monument to symbolise the hundreds of different jobs women undertook in wartime and then gave back for homecoming men at the end of the war.

A Downing Street spokesman said: "Spraying graffiti on war memorials is a despicable display of disrespect for those who fought and died for their country, particularly at a time when the whole nation comes together to commemorate the 70th anniversary of VE Day."

In a statement, the Met said the arrests were made for a variety of offences, including violent disorder and assault on police.

It added that one officer had dislocated a shoulder and a staff member had been hit in the mouth by an object. Both were being treated in hospital. Three other officers were assaulted but did not go to hospital, the Met said.
There have been no reported injuries to any protesters.

In Cardiff, about 200 people joined a similar rally against austerity cuts, where singer Charlotte Church carried a placard saying she was "mad as hell".

Quote from: SecondClass on May 09, 2015, 06:11:07 PM

Arresting people over protesting...how is Britain the more socially intelligent society over America again?

They were arrested for being violent and graffiti-ing on a war memorial. . .

Why the fuck would you graffiti a war memorial though