St Pancras Protest: police will not be increasing security despite clash

Hannah Al-Othman
26 October 2015

Police will not be stationing extra officers at St Pancras in the wake of a pro-refugee demonstration that saw dozens of protesters storm the station.

The fracas broke out at the Eurostar station at around 6pm on Saturday as when around a hundred demonstrators calling for an end to immigration controls broke through a police barrier before pelting officers with missiles including smoke bombs.

Officers were dispatched to the station to disperse the group of No Borders campaigners, and maintained a presence at the station on Saturday night following the clashes, which saw a man and a woman arrested.

A similar demonstration was staged at St Pancras on Friday, October 16, when campaigners blocked the building's main entrance, and doused themselves in red paint inside the station.

However, a spokesman said BTP would not be stepping up security at the station, as Saturday's violence had stemmed from a pre-planned demonstration, adding that similar scenes were not expected to occur "on a daily basis."

He added that BTP would continue to monitor the situation, and would station extra officers at St Pancras if the need arose.

The spokesman said: "It was a planned protest and we have no reason to believe that amount of action will be taken on a daily basis.

"We will continue to review the situation, and will put more officers in place if neccessary."