Police at the Palestinian protest in Kentish Town

• I WAS on my way up Kentish Town tube station on June 6 to see my mother on Leighton Road.

I had my dog on a lead and at the corner of Leighton Road and Kentish Town High Street encountered a peaceful pro Palestinian protest with flags (Palestinian and Israeli, see picture above).

What surprised me was the numbers of police on either side of the protesters; a double line both facing in and facing out.

The protesters were at the front of the area and the back area was empty. There seemed as many police as protesters cross-armed with “don’t-mess-with-me” faces.

I wanted to go along the back to Leighton Road but the police wouldn’t let me through. They insisted I walk in the street with my dog with cars whizzing by.

Was this the right use of police? I think it was heavy handed and put local people in danger by making them walk in the road rather than allowing them through the back.

When it is now well known that police don’t follow up on burglaries, to be using so many police for a peaceful demonstration seems a bad judgment call.

JULIA MacMILLAN, NW1