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Mayor Jill Fraser with the damaged mace |
Protesters face threat of charges over riot
Ceremonial mace damaged in ‘disgusting’ scenes
CAMDEN’S Mayor Jill Fraser has called for rioters who stormed last week’s full council meeting to be prosecuted.
THE Lib Dem councillor said protesters who forced their way onto the main council chamber floor and broke the ceremonial mace – a golden staff used by generations of mayors and a symbol of the council’s authority – should face criminal charges.
The mace is back in a cabinet in the Mayor’s parlour at the Town Hall but its golden crown has been bent backwards after being thrown to the ground and could cost thousands of pounds to fix.
Cllr Fraser said: “What I saw was disgraceful. It was disgusting. It showed a total disrespect for the meeting.”
She added that, at first, she feared one protester was about to attack her and Deputy Mayor Dawn Somper.
“She was heading straight towards us and I thought she was going to throw the mace at somebody,” said Cllr Fraser.
The Mayor singled out protesters from Kilburn Grange play centre, which has had its funding cut, for their part in the ugly exchanges last Wednesday.
She said: “They hid behind the children – that’s the shame of it. It made me think even more that we had made the right decision. At one stage, police said to them to stop the bad language in front of the children.”
The mace, one of the largest in the country, is decorated with a gold etching of St Pancras Church.
Cllr Fraser added: “It is symbolic. The mace will be here long after me, long after all of us.”
Cllr Somper, a Conservative councillor and one of the longest-serving members at the Town Hall, said she had been “absolutely terrified” by the incident, while Lib Dem council leader Councillor Keith Moffitt admitted he was “shaken”.
Councillors fled to the safety of the Mayor’s parlour and the meeting was suspended for an hour while police tried to calm the angry protests.
Cllr Moffitt met Camden police’s Borough Commander Mark Heath on Tuesday morning. The council leader indicated that the council wanted to take the matter further. He has the backing of chief executive Moira Gibb and Conservative leader Councillor Andrew Marshall.
The complaints are thought to centre on the woman who threw the mace, another with a megaphone and a third who had an angry exchange with social services chief Conservative councillor Martin Davies. Police said they were waiting for an official complaint before taking further action.
While a live webcast of the meeting was taken offline on the night, CCTV cameras kept running and footage has been scrutinised by council officials as part of an inquiry into the chaotic disruption. Cllr Moffitt said: “We try to be as open as possible. We allow deputations, even boisterous ones, but the violent nature of this was unacceptable. The mace is symbolic but it’s also a heavy piece of metal which could have hurt somebody.”
There is a suggestion at the Town Hall that some of the rowdiest protesters had attached themselves to the cause of the Kilburn Grange play centre.
Cllr Moffitt added: “It would be interesting to know whether the women that got onto the floor of the chamber are parents at Kilburn Grange.” |
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