When 10 far right thugs attacked a Thanet Stand Up To UKIP stall on Saturday afternoon, the police took over 30 minutes to arrive, despite several eye witnesses ringing them and reporting that a serious assault was in process and that people were in danger.
By the time the police arrived the far right thugs had, of course, vanished.
Thanet Watch’s Norman Thomas, who was one of the people who reported the incident, said: “I told the police that these people were pursuing the Thanet SUTU members and they were in serious danger.
“As it happens no one was hurt, but they could have been beaten up or seriously injured or worse in the time it took the police to get there. It hardly bears thinking about.”
Thanet Watch contacted Kent Police to ask them why it took so long. This is what they said:
“Kent Police was called at 2.40 pm on Saturday 25th April to reports that a man in Broadstairs had a rosette ripped from his shirt [this was a separate attack on Labour Party canvassers in Lindenthorpe Rd].
“Just before 3 pm another call was taken about another disturbance in Broadstairs. [This was the attack on Thanet Stand Up To UKIP members].
“Both incidents are being investigated and officers believe the incidents may be related.
“Kent Police aims to get to all calls where crimes are in progress and/or life is at risk as quickly and safely as possible, which, in relation to the second incident, took 23 minutes.
“That afternoon was particularly busy for local police with 21 separate incidents reported between 2pm and 4 pm in Thanet alone, many of which required an urgent police response.”