Mark Field: Tory MP grabs female protester around neck and pins her against pillar before shoving her out of lavish banquet
Climate change demonstrators wanted to raise awareness of ‘emergency’ facing planet
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Your support makes all the difference.A Conservative MP has been filmed manhandling a climate change protester who interrupted Philip Hammond‘s Mansion House speech.
Mark Field can be seen standing up from his chair and grabbing the woman as she walks past him, before pinning her against a pillar and marching her away.
As the pair passes the camera the MP is seen gripping the woman’s neck tightly.
None of the Greenpeace-affiliated protesters were arrested over the disruption to Mr Hammond’s address, City of London Police said.
A former vice-chairman of the Tories, Mr Field has been the MP for Cities of London and Westminster since 2001 and is a minister of state in the Foreign Office.
Mr Field later issued a statement saying he “reacted instinctively” to what he called a “major security breach”.
“I deeply regret this episode and unreservedly apologise to the lady concerned for grabbing her but in the current climate I felt the need to act decisively to close down the threat to the safety of those present,” he added.
The incident prompted calls for Mr Field’s resignation, with Liberal Democrat MP Sir Ed Davey accusing the Foreign Office minister of acting in a “violent” manner towards the protester.
“Mark Field needs to resign from government. No ifs, no buts about this,” Sir Ed said.
“If he doesn’t he must be sacked. The sight of some penguin suited Tory minister behaving in a violent way towards a female Greenpeace activist absolutely stinks. Shame on you, Mark Field.
“Her only crime was to try to draw peaceful attention to the climate change catastrophe that this basket case government is shamefully ignoring.”
Greenpeace claimed 40 of its volunteers had disrupted the annual Mansion House event to highlight a “climate emergency”.
Top City executives and industry figures were among the guests.
Greenpeace UK climate campaigner, Areeba Hamid, said she was “shocked” by footage of the incident.
“The protester in question was hoping to discuss climate change and the economic reforms we need with the financiers and bankers at the dinner,” Ms Hamid said.
“Mark Field is the MP for the City and represents many of those financiers and bankers.
“We hope they will show a greater willingness to listen and understand the necessity for urgent action than their representative.”
A City of London Police spokesman said: “We were alerted at 9.03pm. We were called by security at Mansion House who let us know there were a group of protesters who had gained entry and were refusing to leave.
“Officers arrived to help with their ejection. Once in the presence of the police, the protesters were co-operative and left the premises. No arrests were made”.
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