Not really, given the poor nature of the policing fed into the propaganda of the hooligans. Hence the shame on you chants directed at the police. They saw it as such and took it upon themselves to ‘defend Britain’. They feared policing wouldn’t be sufficient on remembrance day. People speak of them being whipped up by Suella, but they were talking about counter proteststwo weeks ago. This would have happened anyway.
None of this is to justify, they shouldn’t have been there, shouldn’t have caused their predictable trouble. It was also predictable that it would happen, which was my point. Not that vigilante behaviour is right.
