East London Lines report:

Policing for the recent English Defence League march and counter-protest in Tower Hamlets cost the Metropolitan Police £1.9 million.

Over 3,000 officers attended the march on September 7, which saw 600 EDL supporters walk from Tower Bridge to Aldgate East Station. They were met by a Unite Against Fascism counter-demonstration of 4,000 in Altab Ali Park, Whitechapel.

The march cost the Metropolitan Police £700,000 in overtime wages for officers and a further £1.2 million was incurred by diverting resources away from other areas, a Freedom of Information request revealed.

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Matthew Burgess
http://www.mattburgess.co
I am a journalist and author. I am a journalist at the UK edition of WIRED magazine. In 2015, my first book Freedom of Information: A Practical Guide for UK Journalists, was published. My second book Reed Hastings: Building Netflix, was published in March 2020. I created FOI Directory in 2012 and have maintained it in my spare time ever since.