Young student attacked for protecting wounded police horse from violent protest thugs
A YOUNG student yesterday told how she was kicked and punched as she tried to protect a police horse blinded by protesters.
The horrifying assault happened during unrest in central London on Bonfire Night.
Daisy Greenaway, 20, from Harrow, north London, fell foul of a pack of baying anti-austerity demonstrators who had launched a firework straight in the horse’s face.
It threw its rider and bolted during pitched battles outside Buckingham Palace.
Miss Greenaway said: “A horse ran past, shortly followed by the officer who was previously riding him.
Student protest in London turns violent
I pulled one masked guy away. He punched me and yelled sexist abuse
People threw fireworks.
When I told them not to hurt horses they said, ‘Police horses don’t feel’.
“I pulled one masked guy away. He punched me and yelled sexist abuse.”
An officer at the scene said the horse, called Embassy, had been injured when a masked protester shot a firework directly into its eye.
Its police rider suffered a broken wrist.
Miss Greenaway, an undergraduate at the University of Westminster, had been following the group along The Mall after joining some 3,000 placardwaving activists in Trafalgar Square from 6pm.
She attended the protest to show her support and said it was initially peaceful.
But the Million Mask March, organised by militant group Anonymous, quickly turned ugly.
Anti-capitalism protesters clashed with ranks of police officers guarding the Victoria Memorial outside the Palace amid a barrage of bottles, traffic cones and fireworks.
A police car was set alight in Queen Anne’s Gate, a short distance away from Conservative Party headquarters.
Six police horses were injured, three officers ended up in hospital and 50 demonstrators were arrested.
Met Police Commander Ben ‘BJ’ Harrington said yesterday: “We will bring those responsible for the criminality to justice.”