Brighton woman charged after pro-Palestine protest in London

A woman from Brighton has been charged with assaulting an emergency worker during a pro-Palestine protest in London at the weekend, the Metropolitan Police said.

Dara Harbison, 26, has also been charged with causing criminal damage and having cannabis.

She is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday 6 July.

Harbison is one of 43 people to have been arrested and two to have been charged over offences allegedly committed at two rival demonstrations in the capital on Saturday (16 May).

Stuart Adams, 49, of Aberconway Road, in Merton, south London, was charged with a racially aggravated public order offence for allegedly shouting racially abusive remarks at a police officer, the Met said.

One of the people who was arrested has been recalled to prison, 25 were released on bail and three were told that they would face no further action.

Three others were released under investigation and two were charged with failing to appear at court for previous offences that were not connected to the protests.

Police also issued four penalty notices for disorder and three for urinating in public as well as one to someone who drunkenly called police officers “tossers”.

Today a further arrest was made when Met officers travelled to Plymouth to detain a 28-year-old man on suspicion of stirring up racial hatred.

It is alleged that he was pictured at the Nakba Day rally holding a sign that called for people to be hanged, the force said.

About 60,000 people were estimated to have joined Tommy Robinson’s Unite the Kingdom march on Saturday and 15,000 to 20,000 attended the Nakba Day rally in support of Palestine, the Met said.

Twenty of the 43 arrests were linked to the Unite the Kingdom demo while 12 were linked to the Nakba protest.

The other 11 arrests were not linked to either group or their affiliation could not be immediately confirmed, police said.

Some 4,000 officers were on duty to police the two protests and the FA Cup final, in an operation that included the use of armoured vehicles, police horses and dogs as well as drones.

Police deployed live facial recognition cameras at a location in Camden that was believed likely to be used by many of the protesters attending the Unite the Kingdom rally.

The Met added that more than 50 suspects remained unidentified after attending the previous Unite the Kingdom demo last September when there were clashes with police.