Police officer charged with assault during pro-Brexit UK 'yellow vest' demonstration

PC Connor Pennery accused of assault at protest that saw clashes between police and protesters

Yellow vest protesters at a demonstration in London on 30 April (Reuters)

A police officer has been charged with assault during a UK “yellow vest” demonstration in London.

PC Connor Pennery, 27, is accused of common assault at a protest in Haymarket on 16 February.

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said the officer, from a riot unit based in Chadwell Heath, had been placed on restricted duties.

PC Pennery was charged following an investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct, and will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 29 August.

The day saw clashes break out between “yellow vest” protesters and police, as officers attempted to control a pro-Brexit march.

Two injured police officers were taken to hospital for treatment, while five protesters were charged with assault on an emergency worker and one with obstructing police.

The protest was one of several weekly demonstrations held on Saturdays by the UK “yellow vests”, who adopted tactics used at French rallies that also turned violent and had seen accusations of police brutality.

The British “yellow vests” have been campaigning for a no-deal Brexit and other causes and conspiracy theories popular among the extreme right-wing.

Tommy Robinson supporters and former English Defence League members have joined the protests, which started in London in December.

As well as Saturday marches, “yellow vests” stationed themselves outside the Houses of Parliament and verbally abused pro-EU protesters, politicians and journalists.

James Goddard, who was a leading member of the UK “yellow vests”, was handed a suspended prison sentence last month for harassing MP Anna Soubry and racially abusing a police officer.

In January, he threatened to give police officers “a war”.

“Every f***ing one of you are fair game – you want a war, I’ll give you a war,” he shouted in a Facebook video. “You want it? It’s on, every Saturday. You are fair game.”

A list of UK “yellow vest” issues handed out at a protest in January included a drink-driving crash that killed three boys, Brexit, homelessness, “false adoption”, corruption, “fake news” and “fake laws”.

Footage from a protest in London on 3 August showed effigies depicting Boris Johnson, Ms Soubry, Metropolitan Police commissioner Cressida Dick and other public figures being dragged along the road by their necks.