Political poster condeming Despotic Police

A poster condeming the Brutal Attack on an unarmed, respectable and peaceful multitude made by a Despotic Police in Hyde Park, London on Sunday 1st July 1855. The provocation for the Hyde Park riots of 1855 was Lord Grosvenor's Bill to suppress Sunday trading. On this occasion the rioting was not confined to Hyde Park but also took place in Belgravia and in Hampstead and Tottenham Court Road. On the second Sunday of violence (pictured here) the police seemed to have got the better of the Hyde Park mob by driving a large part of it into the Serpentine, where Police boats were already waiting to pick up the luckless amphibians. Some complained of police brutality (the authors of this poster!), while the political right argued that the Police had acted with great moderation and that Grosvenor's subsequent withdrawal of his bill was a dangerous yielding to popular clamour

Assaulting Belgravia Brutal Brutality Charging Despotic Fleeing Hitting Provocation Rioting Suppress Trading Truncheons Unarmed

Features In These Collections

> Contributors > MPA