Met oficers seen wearing divisive ‘thin blue line’ symbol at sensitive protests despite orders to remove them

Metropolitan police officers are openly defying orders not to wear badges appropriated by the far right and linked to white supremacy.

In July, the force’s chief, Mark Rowley, banned officers from wearing the “thin blue line” badge saying that in the US an equivalent symbol had been used by “hard-right groups”.

However, images have emerged of Met officers wearing the symbol late last month as they policed a stand-off between LGBTQ+ rights supporters and a rightwing group over a drag act’s performance at the Honor Oak pub in Lewisham, south London.

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    However, images have emerged of Met officers wearing the symbol late last month as they policed a stand-off between LGBTQ+ rights supporters and a rightwing group over a drag act’s performance at the Honor Oak pub in Lewisham, south London.

    Her reference to firearms police concerns the hundreds of Met officers who last month temporarily stepped back from duties after a colleague was charged with murdering Chris Kaba, 24, who was shot last September.

    Rowley banned his officers wearing the insignia – a black and white Union flag with a thin horizontal blue line – before policing Pride celebrations amid concerns it could offend the LGBTQ+ community.

    One officer wearing the badge at the protest was pictured beside rightwing activist Laurence Fox days after he made misogynistic remarks about the political journalist Ava Evans.

    Blowe added that the fact some officers felt emboldened enough to ignore the Met commissioner suggests an ugly mentality was alive and well, despite Rowley’s attempts to change the culture of the force, which was described in a report earlier this year as institutionally homophobic, misogynistic and racist.

    Nick Adderley, the Northamptonshire chief constable, said he would not allow a minority to “twist the meaning” of the patch, which is produced by the Care of Police Survivors charity and sold to raise money for the families of officers who died in the line of duty.

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