A LARGE protest gathered in Bournemouth yesterday evening.

Hundreds gathered around the Roundhouse Hotel in Meyrick Road surrounded by police officers.

The protest dispersed from the Lansdowne area at around 11pm.

Reflecting on the event, assistant chief constable Mark Callaghan, gold commander, said: “This evening we have facilitated safe and legal protest activity in Bournemouth involving around 160 people who gathered in the Lansdowne area.

“We are fully aware of the concern among our communities of the impact of potential disorder and we responded swiftly to reports to ensure disruption to residents, visitors, and businesses was kept to a minimum.

“The vast majority of people behaved within the law and we would like to thank them for their conduct. There were no arrests, however, one person was given a legal order to leave the area and not return within 12 hours.

“As we have shown this evening, and at demonstrations in Weymouth on Sunday, we are well-trained to maintain public order and have specially trained officers and plans in place to deal with any outbreaks of disorder.

“Officers will always seek to de-escalate matters as quickly as possible and we will not hesitate to take necessary action against anyone who deliberately chooses to act outside the law.

“This evening officers from Dorset, supported by colleagues from Devon and Cornwall, maintained public safety and engaged with those attending the area.

“I would like to thank them for their hard work and we will continue to work with our partners over the coming weeks to respond to protest activity and keep our communities safe.”

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