A young woman was allegedly attacked for trying to protect a dismounted police horse at the Million Mask March.
The March, held on Guy Fawkes’ night each year, was held in cities around the world to give a load of moustachioed-masked protestors an evening to rally against whoever they think is oppressing them – the government, the BBC, and police horses (more on that later).
Daisy Greenaway, 20, from Harrow, was there to show her support for the anti-austerity campaign – you can bet there were a lot of people there just like her, not normally aligned with anarchist views, but fed up of the public spending cuts that are seeing vital services cut and driving hundreds of thousands of people to food banks.
While the protest started off peacefully, she said: ‘At Buckingham Palace it really took off. A horse ran past shortly followed by the officer who was previously riding him. People threw fireworks.
‘When I told them not to hurt horses, they said “police horses don’t feel.” I pulled one masked guy away from a horse who then tried to fight me. He punched me and yelled sexist abuse for pushing him away from a frightened horse.’
And there you have it – the problem with anarchists, a loosely affiliated group of people who are simply defined by being fed up with how things are done right now, is that some of them have wildly different ideas to others. So you’ll get some prioritising animal cruelty and flagrant sexism over just protesting peacefully.
An officer at the scene told the Evening Standard the horse had been blinded by a firework thrown in its face. Scotland Yard confirmed an animal had received treatment for its injuries at the police stables.
As for the protest? Around 50 arrests were made and a police car was set on fire. Three police officers were taken to hospital and today, well, today capitalism still stands.
Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophwilkinson
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.