Kim Woodburn released a furious attack on the Government as she called for “more prisons” and “tougher sentences”.
Speaking to GB News about her hopes for 2024, the TV personality called for “law and order to be restored” amid a spate of recent protests that have resulted in officers being injured.
She said: “We have a depleted police force, we have no law and order. I’d like to see more prisons, three times the [number of] police officers. People are treating policemen like filth.
“Our Government [is] weak. They will not build extra prisons, tougher sentences. I’m very angry about all of this. Do something to restore law and order, stop these people cursing and kicking police officers.”
On Saturday, four Met Police officers were injured in chaotic scenes while responding to a demonstration involving around 50 people in Camberwell Road.
A spokesperson said the protest, close to The Lighthouse Theatre, was related to “tensions amongst the Eritrean community”.
Footage showed plastic barriers, missiles and sticks being used to attack police officers responding to the incident.
A dispersal order was brought in for an area around the protest by the local police team just before 2.30pm, which lasted until 7am on Sunday. Under the order, officers have the power to remove people from the area.
However, footage from around 4pm showed an apparent “stand off” with officers. Now, Kim Woodburn has called on the “weak Government” to improve safety.
Kim also criticised the NHS, demanding more resources be put into the health service. She added: “I’d like to see us go back to the health and safety we used to have. We have a very poor NHS now, we can’t get appointments, there are people dying because they can’t get surgery. It’s wrong. We used to have a super NHS.”
The Government claimed to have met its target of recruiting more than 20,000 more police officers in England and Wales in 2023.
But the rise follows a significant fall in the number of police officers in the years prior to 2017.
Officials says of these 21,139 officers, 20,951 were recruited using funding from the Police Uplift Programme.
