Tense atmosphere in Parliament Square amid Winston Churchill statue 'boxing up'

Whether demonstrators donned Guy Fawkes masks in the Occupy movement, or Steve ‘stop Brexit man’ Bray filled the ears of the country’s legislators with bellowed cries at all hours, the spot has been the overflow when tensions have run high.

Today, however, felt different.

For weeks London has been running hot.

Firstly in the obvious sense that there’s been no rain, it has been the sunniest spring on record for the UK. But more so that the very air of the city has been burning, and has felt on edge, like something had to give as pressure mounted throughout the coronavirus crisis.

As the rain came down today rather than dampen the flames it transformed the simmering heat into a humidity rich with anticipation.

And the boarded up statue of Sir Winston Churchill became a centre point for a hodgepodge of people to gather. Just down the road on Whitehall the half-covered Cenotaph could be seen in the distance.

Both covered up to protect them from vandalism which had accompanied the many peaceful protesters in the Black Lives Matter movement.

Events were cancelled due to threats from the far-right to hold counter demonstrations. But people still arrived to mill around what was essentially a 12ft tall box.

Some tried to test the solidity of the protection, looking for small chinks in the former PM’s armour.

Two teenage boys arrived on skateboards, sat at the base of the hoarding, and rolled cigarettes.

A group of men arrived with cans of Stella, they said to protect the statue. One mocked a photographer, saying he had already sold a selfie to the Sun for £300, another told me he had heard Tommy Robinson was heading to the square to speak.

The police presence was heavy. For the variety of characters in the square their number was small and matched by the number of officers, quick to act when one man seemed to be attaching a campaign poster to Palmerston’s statue, helicopter hovering overhead.

Meanwhile just a few metres away another man meditated, and later turned to practising yoga.

And both those who sat silently with their banners calling for justice for George Floyd, and those who had arrived to apparently counter the anticipated vandalism, were encircled by the white stone balustrades still covered with slogans such as “no justice, no peace” leftover from the previous weekend.

All of them waiting for whatever came next.