Trafalgar Square 14.42 on 26 September. This is looking south west - the plaza in front of the National Gallery is behind. The atmosphere was peaceful for the previous few hours.

A few minutes later I'd walked further round, to the NE corner of the sq. At 14.52 a large no. of police marched from Duncannon St. out of picture to the right. There was no provocation. Absolutely none. The lady who was punched was on the plaza, behind the row of police here.

There was a stand off on the flight of steps for about 20 minutes. Then the crowd from the plaza (where the woman was punched) started to spill out down the central steps. The atmosphere was less pleasant.

I walked to 10 Downing Street about 15 minutes away. Notice how the police there don't wear masks, but the ones in Trafalgar Square (even when it's not packed) do wear them. The area round 10 Downing St has magical powers - the virus doesn't affect people there.

Half an hour later, back at Trafalgar Sq, the crowd had gone. There were a few (c.100) left some of whom were trying to exit from the NW corner of the Sq. Held back by police who then said we had to leave as an Order applied. If we stayed we would have been arrested.

The order to leave the Sq, by then, was totally unnecessary. Only stragglers remained - people just milling around, chatting.
The whole episode was a show by the police. No reason to disrupt at 14.52. The crowd had been of a similar size for almost 3 hours.

I've seen a few reports from the BBC etc. None captured the true flow of events. Yes a few protesters challenged the cops when kettled.

The gist though was that the Police had decided 3 hours was enough. There is of course nothing to stop them doing the same after 5 minutes.