Dramatic photos reveal the melee during the Black Lives Matter protest which led to Patrick Hutchinson and a group of fellow demonstrators saving a white man from the far right racist counter protest after he got into trouble, Waterloo Station, London 13 June 2020. Credit: SWNS
These photos reveal the moments before hero protester Patrick Hutchinson carried an injured white counter activist to safety.
More photographs have emerged from the Black Lives Matter protest in London this weekend that show the moment the fight broke out.
According to sources, an altercation broke out after members of the Black Lives Matter movement clashed with counter protesters outside Waterloo station.
It has now been claimed the man was mobbed when someone allegedly shouted “F*ck Black Lives Matter”.
The men are captured on camera appearing to shield him from attack before hero Patrick Hutchinson carried him to the safety of the police officers.
The photos were taken near Waterloo Station on Saturday.
“His life was under threat so I just went and scooped him up, put him over my shoulder, and started marching towards the police with him,” Mr Hutchinson told Channel 4 News.
Another member of the group, Pierre Noah, 47, a bodyguard and martial arts teacher from Croydon, described arriving outside Waterloo Station and witnessing the clashes between anti-racist and far-right protesters.
Twenty-three police officers were injured as several hundred demonstrators, mostly white men, attended the protest organised by far-right groups which claimed they wanted to protect statues such as that of Winston Churchill from vandalism.
But the demonstration turned ugly after hundreds of self-proclaimed “statue defenders” took over areas near the Palace of Westminster and Trafalgar Square and hurled missiles, smoke grenades, glass bottles and flares at police officers.
Speaking to the PA news agency about rescuing the white man, Mr Noah said: “They were going to beat him up and stamp on him.”
The group surrounded the man to protect him from further harm as animosity ensued among the crowds.
Mr Hutchinson carried the injured man over his shoulder while the others formed a barrier around them, before handing him to nearby police officers.
The white man did not utter a word and the group have not spoken to or seen him since.
When asked why they helped the man, Mr Noah said: “If we didn’t do that I wouldn’t like to think what would have happened to the poor guy.
“We wanted to save his life and save the Black Lives Matter campaign as well.”
He said he wanted to save the lives of young black boys who could have been targeted by “hooligans” if anything had happened to the white man.
“We were ready to help anyone, no matter what their colour, it’s for the right purpose,” Mr Noah said.
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