Met Police question man, ‘actively seek’ another after anti-lockdown protesters chase BBC journalist through London
London’s Metropolitan Police have questioned one man and are hunting a second after BBC Newsnight’s political editor Nicholas Watt was chased through the streets of the UK capital during a protest against Covid-19 restrictions.
Officers have interviewed a man in his 50s at a police station in Hertfordshire and are searching for a second man who has been identified, the Met said in a statement on Tuesday.
UPDATE: A man in his 50s is being interviewed by Met detectives at a Herts police station in connection with an incident where a journalist was aggressively confronted and chased in Whitehall yesterday afternoon. A second man has been identified and is being actively sought. 1/3
— Metropolitan Police Events (@MetPoliceEvents) June 15, 2021
Dramatic footage showed Watt being confronted by protesters close to Downing Street on Monday ahead of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s announcement that the further lifting of Covid-19 lockdown in England would be delayed by four weeks.
Watt was filmed approaching members of a group called Resistance GB, before he was accosted and chased, and eventually escaped behind a police line.
Also on rt.com ‘BBC stooge’ heckled & chased by anti-lockdown protesters in Westminster in harrowing VIDEO“We also want to hear from anyone who can identify others involved in the incident,” the Met statement said.
“We acknowledge the concerns that have been raised about the police response during this incident,” it added, saying the force’s handling of “policing of events for all Londoners” would be reviewed.
Johnson earlier condemned the incident, saying in a tweet it was “disgraceful to see the hounding of Nick Watt doing his job.”
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