A protester was dragged out of a bad-tempered public meeting with Sadiq Khan last night.
Mr Khan was holding a People’s Question Time event in Wandsworth, south London, when the incident occurred.
While parts of the protestor’s audio is inaudible, the unnamed man can clearly be heard shouting that Mr Khan is attempting to demonise ‘peaceful protestors’.
He then stops to ask if he can retrieve his bag before being ejected from the event, a request which is denied, before being escorted to the exit by security.
Matthew Goodwin-Freeman, Conservative councilor for Hatch End in Harrow, posted on X: ‘#BREAKING – Londoner dragged out of People’s Question Time for standing up to Mayor Khan’s ‘far-right’ labelling of anyone who disagrees with him! Disgraceful.’
The People’s Question Time events happen roughly every six months and give the public the chance to put questions to the Mayor and the London Assembly.
Mr Khan previously caused controversy at one of the meetings at Ealing Town Hall in March 2023 after appearing to call protesters of London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) far-right.
Facing heckles from some in the crowd, Mr Khan said: ‘What I find unacceptable is some of those who’ve got legitimate objections [about ULEZ] joining hands with some of those outside, who are part of a far-right group.’
The unnamed man, holding his phone, is challenged by a member of security after protesting at London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s People’s Question Time events
The tweet by Conservative councillor Matthew Goodwin-Freeman, who posted a video on X showing the protestor being ejected from the event
The protester (right) was incensed over what a Conservative councillor said were Mr Khan’s claims that his opponents were ‘far-right’
He added: ‘Let’s be frank, let’s call a spade a spade. Some of those outside are part of the far right. Some are Covid deniers, some are vaccine deniers and some are Tories.’
Back then his remarks were met with anger, with one member of the audience shouting: ‘We are not the far-right, normal people are not the far-right.’
Conservative assembly member Peter Fortune also hit back at Mr Khan at the same event. He said: ‘You heard it, didn’t you? If you disagree with the mayor, he’s going to paint you as far right.
‘If you disagree with the mayor, he’s going to say you’re a science denier, he’s going to say you’re a Covid denier, he’s going to say you’re a flat earther, he’s going to say you think there are aliens in Buckingham Palace, and Mr Blobby shot Kennedy.
‘He’s going to throw all this stuff at you, because he doesn’t want to address the fact you’ve got legitimate concerns.’
However, there has reportedly been evidence of far-right activity outside some of the the People’s Question Time events.
After the March 2023 gathering, Foreign Secretary David Lammy posted a photograph on X showing a placard fetauring Nazi symbols and painting Mr Khan as a Communist leader.
Mr Lammy said: ‘Disgusting placards including swastikas at this march outside People’s Question Time in Ealing tonight.
Labour foreign secretary David Lammy highlighted ‘placards including swastikas’ apparently being brandished outside the People’s Question Time event in March 2023
A protester holds up a sign branding Sadiq Khan a liar over his support for an extension to the existing Ultra Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ) in London
‘The @CityHallTories should be ashamed of promoting this march which looks like it’s been coordinated by the far right. We will not let them divide us.’
After rioting broke out across England and Northern Island in the summer of 2024 following false claims that the perpetrator of the attack that killed three girls in Southport was Muslim and an asylum seeker, Mr Khan said he felt ‘triggered’ and sought to blame the far right for the unrest.
Speaking to MSNBC, Mr Khan sought to pin the most extreme of the violence on ‘these far right violent people, trying to burn down mosques, trying to burn down hostels housing asylum seekers, stopping cars to see whether those inside are white or people of colour.’
However, many of Mr Khan’s critics felt that his depiction of the protesters ignored the legitimate concerns of Britons concerned about migration.
As the Daily Mail’s Dr Rakib Ehsan wrote in August 2024: ‘The right to protest is paramount in our democracy. But Britain feels on the cusp of serious disorder.
‘Why do increasing numbers of people seem only too eager to take to the streets to make their views public?
‘Whatever Sir Keir Starmer might like to think, most are not necessarily ‘far-right’: instead, many will have legitimate concerns about mass migration, the breakdown in law and order and what they see as ‘two-tier’ policing, whereby some protesters are treated more leniently by the authorities than others.
‘They want to protect their families, their communities and their nation. Millions probably agree with them, even if they would never attend a protest, still less take part in a riot.’
