Police officer attacked in ‘outburst’ following Birmingham Gaza demonstration

A police officer has been attacked following an ‘outburst’ at a Birmingham Gaza demonstration. Demonstrators had marched from Handsworth Park to the city centre on Saturday (December 14).

But a man, who was said to be part of the demo, reacted in an ‘outburst’ according to eyewitness, Hamza, The witness said: “It was at around 3pm. The demo had been going on and going well when a man had an outburst with a male police officer near McDonald’s on Cherry Street.

“There was just a male a female police officer there at the time. The man then started attacking the police officer in Union Street. He was punched badly.”

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Hamza said one of the officers ‘pressed the panic button’ which led to a number of police vehicles quickly responded to the incident. He said: “The man fled the scene, leaving the officer with minor injuries.

“Both officers went after him and this led the panic button to be pressed, with a lot of response cars responding to The Priory Queensway, where the man got caught and arrested. I’d say around 10 police cars responded to the incident.”

West Midlands Police confirmed a man has been detained and is being questioned. A spokeswoman for the force said: “A 46-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer and remains in police custody.”