Demonstrations on 26th and 27th'0ctober 1968"



The Home Secretary, accompanied by the Cmmnissioner of Police of the MetropoliH
and Sir Philip Allen, saw the f0110wing newspaper proprietors on Thursday, 17th October

at 10 

Sir Max Aitken 'Chainnan, heaverbrook Newspapers-
The Rt. Hon. Lord Aylestonc Chainuan, Independent TeleVision ,5
Authority . 
The Hon. David Astor Chairman and Editor, ObserVCr
w. Gibbings Joint Chairman, Guardian
Mr. Dennis Hamilton,, Chainnan of Times Newspapers Limited
Lord Hartwell Representing Chainnan of Daily
- . ,Telegraph Limited
Mr. E. D. Pickering Chairman, International Publishing
Campany

lord Rothermere Chairman, Associated Newspapers Limited
IM . Mark Chapman Walker Chairman and Joint Managing Director, I

I News of the World 
Mr. 0. J. Wintley Representing Lord Hill, Chairman,
(Chief Assistant to the Board of h.n.C.

Director-General) 0, -



2. The Home?gecretary said that he had_summoncd the mectihg because the demonstrationsi
raised questions of policy on which he would be answerable 9p Parliament. The 
demonstration on 27th October was clearly going to be a serious occasion. It raised 1
the question whether execptional action should be taken to restrict it, but helnd decidc<
against this. His attitude was that the demonstrators should have every freedom to
demonstrate, but it was a freedom under the law, and if the law was nu, the hulir?
would bring those responsible before the court and the courts would, he hoped.
appropriate action. In the light of demonstrations earlier this year, the

had certain obligations, as they were responsible for bringing a lot of'pr

Central London. He would watch particularly the conduct of the leaderst?

demonstration and mould take a poor view of them if they appeared at the bran-amh Lu

be photographed and then melted away as the demonstration got under way. But the most
worrying feature was the appearance of certain splinter groups, mainly Trotskyists and
anarchists, who were primarily interested in provoking violence. In these circumstance!
televisiOn and newspaper cameras were)?gutral but inevitably themselves contributed to 
the atmOSphere. There was a feeling among the police that the.published photographs I
tended to concentrate on some retaliation by a police officer, rather than on the blow

by a demonstrator?W?dl provoked the police officein The Home Secretary said that he

was sure_that he could be confident that the newspaper proprietors were aware of that

feeling. -A . 3 
. 

. The Home Secretary also made these points:?





had not been sufficiently Forthcoming with infonnation about the demonstration.

The Daily Telegraph had been wrong in its account of his policy on the
admission of aliens in this context. He was taking steps to exclude people
coming from abroad for the demonstration who had a conviction for violence
in our courts or their own CourtS. For the rest it was neither appropriate
nor practicable to apply a sort of political censorship and decide that one
demonstrator should be let in and that another should not.

The role and tactics of the police would follow traditional lines. "If this
had not been intended. ch ComniSSioner of Police would have wanted to
consult the Home Secretary about it, and he had not done so.

The organising comnittce for the main demonstration was incurring n

substantial loss every month. The Home Secretary was Sure that the



newspapers would bear this in mind in any contacts they were disposed to make.
. 

The Commissioner of Police said that there had been some criticism that the police

They

had wanted to keep the temperature down but fully realised the considerable news interest

involved.









be then gave the following information:-
The demonstration on 26th October was likely to he a slight affair, though
there had been a story that theCStock Exchange would be attacked on Friday,mm
25th October. a "3
On 27th October there would be one big procession starting from the Embankment
at 2 p.m. and would include sincere Opponents of the war in Vietnam who wanted
an ordinary demonstration. The march would be joined by the Federation of
Anarchists, and the original leaders would try but fail to control all the
procession. A figure of 20,000 50,000 had been estimated as the number
likely to be in the procession, but 15,000 could be the upper limit.
The Cmmnissioner of Police described the proposed line of march and the
stops for banding in petitions or sit?dewn protests.
There would be a second march organised by an ad hoc c0mmittee under
Maoist leadership. This was intended to start with speeches in Trafalgar
Square and end with a march on the Nnerican Embassy. 'This group might feel
isolated in Trafalgar Square and join the first march as it passed.
The Comaissloner of Police mentioned the following vulnerable points on due
line of the main marchz? 

the offices of the Daily Telegraph, the Daily Express and possibly

The Times: Australia House with a possible diversion towards the
I.T.N.'Studios: Rhodesia House and South Africa House: the Treasury:
the Ministry of Defence (a very likely target): Great and New Scotland
Yard:

the Home Office: the Hilton Hotel and the

diversion in the directiOn of the

Downing Street:
Playboy Club, with a possible
American Embassy;





'would he about 150 mounted officers; police horses were a traditional and

The vulnerahle points on the Maoists's march were:-
New Zealand House: the United States Trade Centre: the Nncrican Ekpress:
the Spanish and Greek tourist offices and shops in Oxford Street.
The police had invited the main buildings on the route to make their
own internal security arrangements and pdvised them to see that internal
doors were locked and that men were inside to deal with incidents. The
police ?euld not be inside the buildings themselves.
The fonns of violent behaviour would be largely as on previous occasions.
The police'did not think that the use of fireann? or extreme forms of
explosives twas probable. There might he a use?of the German demonstrators's
technique of having a large massed advance by demonstrators with the front
.row carrying a telegraph pole; this was very di?fleult to counter.
There was nothing specifically known at present whith made it necessary
to close roads in advance but some ad hoe arrangements would probably have to
be made on the day. As the Home Secretary had said, there were no bans
or special restrictions on the procession; militant demonstrators would
have liked this to happen as an excuse for violence.
About 7900police officers would be on duty from the Metropolitan police force,
and there was-no need to call in help from neighbouring forces. Special

Constables would be used ih strength to look after police stations. There

effective means of crowd control. A special mobile group would be aetive
before the demonstration started. Dogs would_not be used. For the police
officers there had been a certain amount of special training at hendon in
the use of wedge techniques and in improving response speeds. The police-
would have no special offensive or defensive equipment. Even?the use

of barricades in front of the United States Embassy would be too

;provocative. The communications system used by the police had been

lspecially improved for the occasion. 

The demonstrators would circulpte?wild and highly exaggerated rumours,
}particularly about police act?cn and might, for instance, say that tear gas i
had been used. Their basic alm was to lower police morale, and-if they were

to succeed in this, the position would undoubtedly be serious. The
Commissioner of ?olice specially asked the proprietors to ensure that if I
their newspapers receiVed rumours about the demonstratiorl;?they should

'check with the Public Relations Dcpartmentiat Scotland Yard, or the Operations
Deparbnent was appropriate, where they would be given

-as much help as Was possible.

K.

0. Mr. Astor asked whether thought had been given to the possibility of altering

the mood of the occasion by introducing sellers of balloons and hot dogs. g;
:30 Commissioner said that there would certainly be substantial numhers of 
spectators on a Sunday outing in London, which was partly-why
he had to be very cautious in the tactics used by the polite. The Home Secretary i
said that Mr. Astor's suggestion was ingenious, but nothing was likely to affect'

the conduct of the militants, who were the real trouble-makers.

0. Lord Rothermere said that if the leaders of the demonstration were likely to 
slip away in the how were they likely to be picked up by the police for 
offences and so acquire the coaviction for violence which would enable the Home
Secretary to keep them out of the country. The Home Seeretarv said that the

leaders of the demonstration did not come frOm abroad. 
. .l

.


7. Sir Max Aitken asked if the people in the Daily bUildng Should no

out after any demonstrators who broke into their building and were expelled. i

".The Commissioner said that any action outside the building should he left to the
police. . 

s. A ?ne progiigtg? asked whether the militant trouble makers.wnuld break away
From the main demonstration often golng?with it For a time or would emerge from"
elsewhere after the demonstration had got under way. The Cmmnissioner said that
in general the militants would be in the main demonstration to start with, but
were likely to form marauding bands towards the end. 5 6 p.m. was the
dangerous time. It should not be assumed, if'the?pro?ession had passed a

particular building,that that building was Safe, as the militant group might return.

9. In reply to Lord Rothennere,the Commissioner said that the organisers would

be allowed to use loud?speaker vans and would probably behave reasonably on this
point.

10. Sir Max Aitken then asked whether the courts could be relied on to deal
appropriately with the offenders. The Home Secretary said that he had to be
car?ful about this but he would personally like to see some severe short sentences
imposed. The Commissioner added that it would be particularly helpful if the
cases were dealt with quickly. 



11. Lord Rothermere said that he did not feel that there was any prejudice at

all in the selection of photographs by newspapers. The Home Secretary said that

1 

he had been making no complaint.

12. Lord Avlestonc said that there was a sound technical reason for photographers
concentrating on the police action in a scuffle, since by the time the cameras

.
had focussed, the demonstrators had done their provocation and the police were
then dealing with it. The Commissioner said that the Granada film on 16th October
had been very good. I .

Id. Mr. Hamilton said that The Times building was in the City of London and he

hoped that there was no boundary problems preventing effective police action. He
noticed that the Commissioner of Police for the City of London was not present

at the meeting. The Home Secretarv said that/$12cause he was the police authority
for the Metropolitan police force only, He suggested that Mr. Hamilton should speak

to the City police. The Commissioner assured Ihuniiton that the police boundary
no difference at all and that there was excellent co?opcration between the?

two forces. Mr. Hamilton said that he was already in touch with the City police..



14._ Another proprietor asked if the\Saturday night publication of Sunday newspapersi?
was likely to be interfered with. Tit CommissiOner said that no plans for this 
were known to the police. If the got into newspaper offices, their main
GhicCt simply be to occupy the building.

Io. Mr. Hamilton asked what demonstrations were likely after 27th October. . ?1
The Commissioner said that this demonstration was likely to be the demonstration 
to end all demonstrations. The Home Secretary thohght that Vietnam was probably 

nearly exhausted as a subject for demonstrations but others would arise.

J/d

18th October '1968.

 

Copies to: Mr. Daiy -- 

Mrs. Sanders 
Mr. Weddell

. Mr. 

(n