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The head of the Metropolitan Police Federation has called on bosses to apologise for failing to protect officers injured in anti-racism protests. Ken Marsh said he was “disgusted, sickened, and appalled” by protester violence towards the police at BLM protests across the country. He told TalkRADIO: “I’m not sure what my colleagues have done to warrant this abuse. It’s absolutely absurd and wholly unfair.”

Mr Marsh, the chairman of the organisation that represents rank-and-file officers, called for urgent action from Met Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick and demanded his colleagues are properly equipped with public order gear, including helmets and shields.

“Enough is enough,” he said. “I shall be calling for urgent action from the Commissioner. And we would expect an official apology from senior leaders to our members for being frankly offered up like this.”

He said police should be dealing with disorder “far more robustly”, adding: “We need to have the correct equipment on to deal with what is in front of us.

“Our leaders have to respond and kit us up correctly and make sure we are fully prepared for what is taking place.

“If bottles and fireworks are being thrown at our police officers, we should have public order equipment on. No ifs. No buts. Our colleagues’ safety should be of paramount importance to our police leaders.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said anti-racism demonstrations have been “subverted by thuggery” after protesters tore down a statue of a slave trader in Bristol and clashed with police in London.

Scotland Yard said 12 people were arrested and eight officers injured as bottles and other objects were thrown in central London on Sunday.

Graffiti was scrawled on the statue of Sir Winston Churchill in Parliament Square, while in Bristol protesters toppled the bronze memorial to slave trader Edward Colston and dumped it into the harbour.

Marvin Rees, the Mayor of Bristol, said he felt no sense of loss for the statue, but told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “As an elected politician, obviously I cannot condone the damage and I am very concerned about the implications of a mass gathering on the possibility of a second COVID wave.”

Home Secretary Priti Patel has branded the incident “utterly disgraceful”, while crime, policing and justice minister Kit Malthouse called on Monday for those responsible to be prosecuted.

“A crime was committed, criminal damage was committed, there should be evidence gathered and a prosecution should follow,” he told BBC Breakfast.

John Apter, the chairman of the Police Federation, which represents rank-and-file officers in England and Wales, criticised Avon and Somerset Police for its decision not to intervene in the protest.

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He told BBC Breakfast: “To have no police presence there I think sent quite a negative message.

“I understand there has been a lot of controversy about this statue for many years – so the question is: why didn’t those in the local authority consider taking it down long before, rather than waiting for these actions?”

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the Colston statue should not have been torn down by protesters but added that it was wrong for the monument to have remained in place for so long.

On LBC Radio he said: “It shouldn’t be done in that way. Completely wrong to pull a statute down like that.”

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