The Metropolitan police and Westminster council were forced to back down in February after first telling Million Women Rise and the Campaign Against Climate Change that they would need to hire ‘approved’ private security firms to manage traffic for their separate marches in central London on 7 March.
The groups were asked to hire one ‘certified steward’ (on £120 a day) for every 20 people attending each protest – costing perhaps £10,000.
Netpol, the network for police monitoring, commented: ‘The Palestine Solidarity Campaign challenged police attempts to impose similar conditions for one of its marches and the Met eventually admitted private security was not a legal requirement. “Wrap Up Trident” organisers used this knowledge to force the police to back down.’