Get off your soapbox! Police ban ladders and platforms from Speaker's Corner in a health and safety move debaters fear will kill 150 years of tradition

  • Seven speakers told to get down from their perches in Hyde Park's sacred patch
  • Police said: 'You are not allowed to stand on anything other than your two feet'
  • Renowned free spech haven hosted likes of Lenin, Marx and Orwell over years

Police have been caught on camera telling people to come down from their ladders while they were holding forth in Speakers' Corner.

The seven speakers were left shocked as officers approached them in the world-famous haven for agitators in London's Hyde Park, telling them: 'You are not allowed to stand on anything other than your two feet'.

The decision to kick speakers off their soapboxes was apparently made by the Metropolitan Police three days before the encounter last Sunday. 

The Met told the The Times the officers had brought the speakers down to earth 'due to concerns for public safety' after learning of an assault on a speaker earlier in the year. 

Pictured: Jay Smith, who was holding forth at Speakers' Corner, was told to get off his ladder last Sunday 

Pictured: Jay Smith, who was holding forth at Speakers' Corner, was told to get off his ladder last Sunday 

Smith said that 'crowds will no longer come, and London will lose one of its treasured institutions' if ladders are banned 

Smith said that 'crowds will no longer come, and London will lose one of its treasured institutions' if ladders are banned 

Peter Bradley, head of the Speakers' Corner Trust, said 'police meddle at their peril' at the sacred site of free speech. Pictured: The officer telling Smith to get down from the ladder 

Peter Bradley, head of the Speakers' Corner Trust, said 'police meddle at their peril' at the sacred site of free speech. Pictured: The officer telling Smith to get down from the ladder 

It added: 'If officers believe it's unsafe due to crowd numbers they can make an operational decision to ask speakers to come down,' but confirmed its support for 'open-air public speaking, debate and discussion' at Speakers' Corner. 

For more than a century, it has been a focal point for dissenters, among them the suffragettes, Gorge Orwell, Vladimir Lenin, Karl Marx, CLR James and religious and political minorities of all stripes. 

But now Peter Bradley, head of the Speakers' Corner Trust, is keen to see the sacred space - propped up by the Parks Regulation Act 1872 - preserved.

He said: 'At a time when we are concerned about our security and the threat from terrorists, we have to keep in the forefront of our minds the rights we are seeking to protect,' adding: 'Police meddle at their peril'. 

Speakers' Corner has been a favourite of many dissenters throughout its long history. Pictured: Singer Billy Bragg speaking against 'excessive' bonuses for bankers in 2010
A man with a bible under his arm addressing a crowd from a ladder

Speakers' Corner has been a favourite of many dissenters throughout its long history. Pictured left: Singer Billy Bragg speaking against 'excessive' bonuses for bankers in 2010. Right: A man with a bible under his arm addressing a crowd from a ladder

One of the people police explained the new policy to on Sunday - Jay Smith - said he is consulting with the Christian Legal Centre about the new move. 

He has spent 25 years debating with Muslims but was instructed to get down from his ladder while in discussion with Mohammed Hijab. 

Smith has written a letter to Inspector Josie Harris - on whose authority the ladder policy is said to have been implemented - explaining that without the permission to use ladders, 'there is no more Speakers' Corner'. 

He added: 'The crowds will no longer come, and London will lose one of its treasured institutions.'

The writer and militiaman George Orwell (pictured) spoke at Speakers' Corner about the Spanish Civil War, in which he fought

The writer and militiaman George Orwell (pictured) spoke at Speakers' Corner about the Spanish Civil War, in which he fought

Ladders are essential to getting yourself above the crowd and being heard, according to Jay Smith. Pictured: A South African man addressing a large crowd at Speakers' Corner
A man spreads out his arms and smiles while Hyde Park attendees look on

Ladders are essential to getting yourself above the crowd and being heard, according to Jay Smith. Pictured left: A South African man addressing a large crowd at Speakers' Corner. Right: A man spreads out his arms and smiles while Hyde Park attendees look on 

Over the years the small patch in central London has been used by revolutionaries, iconoclasts and attention seekers. 

In the 1850s, Communist Manifesto authors Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels put forward their plans at Speakers' Corner. 

The novelist and journalist George Orwell, who had fought with the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s, spoke there about what he deemed to be the truth about the conflict.