Friday 29 March 2019 10:37 am | Updated: Monday 03 June 2019 12:52 am

Police shred Ukip leader’s claim officers will deploy water cannon on pro-Brexit protest rallies

The Met Police was quick to dismiss an MEP's claims this morning that officers would use water cannon on pro-Brexit marchers congregating in London today.

Ahead of the several pro-Brexit marches taking place in the capital today, Gerard Batten MEP tweeted:

“There are reports that water cannon may be deployed tomorrow in London, & that some of the police may try to aggregate and provoke Brexiteers. There is always the danger of provocateurs planted to cause trouble.”

Batten, who is leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), added: “I hope it is not true but I call on everyone present to be peaceful.”

The Met was to quick to refute Batten, however, retweeting his message to say: “Those reports are indisputably false.”

https://twitter.com/MetPoliceEvents/status/1111538049710723073

The dismissal comes as pro-Brexit groups rally in London to call upon MPs to commit to leaving the European Union on the day that the UK was originally due to depart.

It later confirmed: “No water cannons are owned or used by the Met Police. Any suggestion that we are intending to use water cannons or seeking to agitate any protestors is baseless and false. We will continue to work with partners and public to put public safety at the heart of everything we do.”

As London mayor, Boris Johnson bought water cannon for crowd control in anticipation of social unrest, but did not check whether they could be used in the capital.

Home secretary Theresa May then banned them from England and Wales, and under London mayor Sadiq Khan the units were sold for scrap at a £300,000 loss.

Brexit party Ukip will be hosting a Make Brexit Happen Rally at Whitehall at 4pm today, at the same time as the March to Leave, hosted by the Leave Means Leave campaign, completes its 270-mile trek from Sunderland to Parliament Square.

It comes as Prime Minister Theresa May tries to push her withdrawal agreement through today, 29 March, which was set as the original EU departure date until May was forced to seek an extension until at least 12 April from the EU.

“To date, protests have been largely peaceful and we have no intelligence at this time to suggest that will change,” the Met Police said in a statement.

Police “will be ready to respond should any incidents or other spontaneous protests arise”, it said.

“Our officers are well trained to maintain public order and we have been involved in planning across the UK to ensure that police forces are able to respond effectively.”

The protests are being held less than a week after last Saturday's Put it to the People March in London organised by People's Vote.

The group claimed that 1m people were marching on Saturday, but fact-checking site Full Fact put the number at around 400,000.

“It’s impossible to say with precision how many people attended the march. However experts in crowd estimation put the number at between 312,000 and 400,000,” Full Fact said.