London businesses have been forced to close on Wednesday or shut early amid fears of an outbreak of far-right disorder in the capital.
The Met Police has vowed it will crack down on disorder by “hateful and divisive groups” at planned events on Wednesday night, and would not tolerate “thuggish” or “criminal behaviour”.
But several businesses in the north of the capital were boarding up their windows and closing early ahead of the events.
Among them was a branch of Foxton’s estate agents on Finchley High Road, which had boarded up windows.
“We were advised by the police to close down,” said a staff member at head office who did not give their name. “It’s for customer and staff safety, just for today.
Asked if it was in relation to the ongoing violent far-right protests, they said: “Yes, it is in relation to the riots.”
The owner of a nearby clotheswear business told the Standard she was considering closing early, and that several other shops on the road had already done so.
“The hairdressers, the corner shops, these have all closed,” she said, saying her neighbouring businesses had shut up shop for day.
“The basic ones like Boots are open so far but they don’t know what they’re going to do later.
“We might also close because it’s dangerous … It’s scary, we don’t want to be in the middle of it.”
Meanwhile the popular Nags Head pub in Walthamstow said it was closed on Wednesday “due to potential protest in Walthamstow [and] to ensure the safety of our employees and customers.”
It added in a message to patrons: “Please everyone stay safe!”
A manager at a school uniform shop in north London, who wished to remain anonymous, said on Wednesday that the expected riots were having an impact on her business during its "busiest time of the year".
"Today, normally we are busy but the streets are quite quiet," she said.
Online social media speculation had named Walthamstow and Finchley as being among possible locations for planned disorder, but officers have vowed that police will be waiting to take any action necessary.
Separately, residents of a Crodyon apartment block were this week advised by their management company to avoid Croydon town centre on Wednesday evening because of the prospect of disorder.
But a Croydon Council spokesperson said: “We are aware of rumours circulating online about reports of attacks in Croydon tomorrow (Wednesday 7 August). We want to confirm that our position remains the same - that at this time there is no police intelligence that we will see violent activity in Croydon.”
Met Deputy Assistant Commissioner Andy Valentine said on Tuesday: “The scenes of racist, thuggish and criminal behaviour across the country have been deeply shocking.
“Members of the public and officers have been attacked, many have been injured.
“We will not tolerate this on our streets. We will use every power, tactic and tool available to prevent further scenes of disorder.
“We arrested more than 100 people in central London disorder last week and we will not hesitate to arrest hundreds more if they take to the streets intent on fuelling violence.”
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan also said on Tuesday morning previous scenes of disorder on Whitehall last week were "truly shocking".
“I’m aware of reports that far-right groups are now planning to target locations in London and I want to be very clear to anyone thinking of spreading hatred and fear in our city – if you break the law, action will be taken against you,” he said.
