By Jacob Phillips

Copyright standard

Sir Mark Rowley has revealed live facial recognition was not used at the Unite the Kingdom protest to avoid a “chilling effect” on people exercising their rights.

The Met Police Commissioner said he was cautious about the “intrusive technology” being used at protests, explaining there have been concerns about freedom of speech being prevented.

The technology, which is used by police to scan faces and cross-reference them with a watch list, has not yet been used at a demonstration, Sir Mark explained.

Sir Mark told the London Policing Board on Tuesday: “I don’t rule out a protest where there is lots of intelligence about potentially serious violence taking place, but I think we have to be more careful on the balanced judgment when it is at a protest because of what may be sensed about it having a chilling effect”.

He added that the technology is used based on police intelligence rather than as a “mass surveillance tool”.

Sir Mark continued: “We’re looking at the full picture beforehand in terms of what can be reasonably expected and making a judgment whether intrusive technology is sensible to use.

“And we haven’t used it on any protest so far, and as I say, I’m cautious on using it on protests as opposed to events, for the reason of freedom of speech and the rights expressed under the Human Rights Act to that point.

“So that has to be a consideration that goes into the equation for using it.”

The police chief pointed out that the technology has been used successfully on a number of occasions, including spotting sex offenders in crowds at the King’s Coronation.

The technology has previously been described as a “game-changing tool” and has led to more than 700 arrests so far this year, including 61 arrests at Notting Hill Carnival.

The first arrest at the carnival took place within five minutes of the technology going live as it quickly picked up someone who was wanted on a prison recall since 2015.

Sir Mark explained that the Met Police expect to arrest around 50 more people after violent disorder broke out at the protests in central London at the weekend.

He added that while thousands had protested peacefully, a minority were set on violence.

Between 110,000 and 150,000 people turned out for right-wing activist Tommy Robinson’s Unite the Kingdom rally on Saturday, and about 5,000 were involved in an anti-racism counter-demonstration.

The Metropolitan Police said there were several incidents of violent disorder, the majority of which were linked to the Unite the Kingdom event.

Sir Mark continued: “It’s a classic example of the most difficult public order challenges.

“A large crowd, tens of thousands of people peacefully expressing their opinion, and tens of people determined on serious violence.”

He went on: “I anticipate we will be arresting about 50 more people for violent disorder.

“We arrested a handful yesterday, and will slowly be doing appeals based on the imagery as we work through the CCTV.”

On Monday the force issued photos of 11 people that officers are hoping to speak to in relation to the disorder.

The force has already charged eight people with various offences including assault and public order crimes.

There were 26 police officers injured during the protests.