Police officers were deployed away from the Queen’s funeral after violent clashes between religious groups spilled out onto the streets of Leicester.
– most of who were young men – gathered for unplanned protests, later clashing with an opposing group.remaining at the scene on SundayThey were ‘significantly outnumbered’ and back-up was brought in ‘from all sorts of different parts of the country’ to help with the chaos.Temporary chief constable Rob Nixon said: ‘They were faced with significant aggression, I think they faced some very, very challenging situations, and I actually do believe they put themselves in danger to protect the public.
Officers tried to hold back crowds amid tensions involving mainly young men from sections of the Muslim and Hindu communities ‘I have to say, I was actually on the ground [on Saturday] and I saw the level of aggression and the level of non-compliance, and I thought my officers did a tremendous job when significantly outnumbered.
‘I think we were faced with a significant number of people that were intent on causing significant injury to other people, and my officers stood their ground.’ Leicestershire Police said a number of resources were provided, with extra officers deployed from the West Midlands, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.
Mr Nixon added: ‘These people are being drawn in at a time when there is probably the largest policing operation in the country, linked with the state funeral, so these things are having a broader impact.’