Met bans UKIP from protesting in Tower Hamlets

The area UKIP has been banned from gathering in has a high proportion of Muslim residents

A planned demonstration by the UK Independence Party (UKIP) has been banned by the Metropolitan Police from taking place in an area with a large Muslim population.

The force said the move was because the gathering, due to take place in east London on Saturday, bore a "realistic prospect of serious disorder".

Initially advertised as a march from Whitechapel station and later revised to be an assembly in the same area, it was part of a series of events to "reclaim Whitechapel from the Islamists", the Met said.

UKIP said the police had "caved into the Islamists and violated our democratic right to peaceful assembly in Whitechapel this Saturday".

Public Order Act conditions mean UKIP cannot hold its protest in Whitechapel or anywhere else in the borough of Tower Hamlets.

Cdr Nick John said: "Tower Hamlets has the largest percentage of Muslim residents anywhere in the UK and the prospect of this protest taking place in the heart of the borough has been the cause of significant concern locally.

"It is our assessment that there is a realistic prospect of serious disorder if it was to go ahead in the proposed location."

He said UKIP was free to organise its protest somewhere else and anybody who tried to assemble in Tower Hamlets would face the possibility of arrest.

The party said it was in the process of re-organising the march elsewhere in London.