A Policeman’s Lot 19….The Libyan Embassy Siege.

Most of the blogs that I have posted in this series contain (I hope) an element of humour….This post will be different. It concerns an occurrence which lasted eleven days beginning on Tuesday 17th April 1984…..An incident which still brings tears to my eyes all these years later.

On that day I was rostered to work an early turn and my day began at 0700. At 0815 I would have been drinking a final cup of coffee before going out onto my first fixed post of the day…..At around 0830 I arrived at the American Embassy in Grosvenor Square with another officer…..The American Embassy was a large building that took up the whole of the Western side of Grosvenor Square and it required two officers to cover it….One at the front and one at the back….I began at the back and the standard procedure was that the two officers would alternate each 30 mins…..By about 1025 I was standing at the front of the embassy and would doubtless have been checking my watch as the two officers scheduled to relieve us would by now be preparing to make their way out to us…..It was around that time that I heard a message over my personal radio from the DPG headquarters.

“All units are advised that all change overs on posts are suspended due to an incident in St. James Square.”

I can remember thinking “What on Earth has happened there!”…… Shortly after that the other officer appeared from the back of the embassy….We decided there was nothing else to do except continue to alternate between front and back until we could be finally relieved….By now snippets of information were leaking through to us and we were aware that gun shots had been fired during a small demonstration outside the Libyan Embassy in St James Square….I think it was on a small transistor radio that I used to carry with me that I heard that a local officer policing the demonstration and 11 demonstrators had been shot and wounded…..It was some considerable later that when I discovered that the wounded officer had been pronounced dead.

That officer was Yvonne Fletcher. She was a ‘C’ Division officer who worked at Bow Street Police Station and she and a few of her colleagues were regulars in the pub where my wife worked in Soho….We both knew her well and counted her as a personal friend….When I finally arrived home, I found my wife distraught and in tears….The dam finally broke and I could only join her.

For the next ten days it would be “all hands to the pumps”….The Libyan Embassy was surrounded by a small army of police officers and all leave on the DPG was cancelled….Not only did we have to assist with the swiftly developing situation in St. James Square but of course, we still had the usual everyday jobs to attend to.

There seemed to be no escaping the incident….Every news bulletin seemed to begin with the poignant image of Yvonne in her uniform and of her police hat, left abandoned on the ground where she fell….and the helmets of her friends and colleagues who had tried to render first aid and resuscitate her…..They would remain untouched until the end of the containment eleven days later.

So much has been written about the rights and the wrongs of Libyan Embassy siege that is in the public domain and I do not propose to add to that mountain of words here….I will instead write a few personal notes about my own memories and leave readers to make up their own minds.

Most of the police officers that I spoke to at the time or since could not see a positive ending to the siege….I think many members of the public thought that it would all end with an intervention by the UK military’s Special Forces as was the case in the Iranian Siege of 1980….But this situation was entirely different….For a start the Iranian Embassy was overtaken by armed intruders….The group being contained within the Libyan Embassy were diplomats….Perhaps not in the normal sense….But they still held diplomatic immunity….Also, Home Secretary, Leon Brittan made it clear almost from the outset that he wanted a peaceful and negotiated conclusion….Furthermore, during the Iranian containment the Special Forces possessed the advantage of an element of surprise….And although they were on the ground within hours of this containment being set up…..The Libyans would be well aware that an armed assault would be a possibility and would be prepared and waiting for it…..It was now obvious they had automatic weapons inside the embassy…. It was also well known that it would have been very easy to smuggle as many weapons as they pleased into the the embassy under the cover of diplomatic bags….Therefore, an armed intervention by British Special Forces would inevitably be bloody and difficult to undertake.

For most of the duration of the Libyan Embassy containment I remained on ordinary duties but on one particular night duty I was posted onto the containment….There were three police cordons around the area….The first was an unarmed ring of officers to keep the roads closed and to to keep members of the public out and away from danger….The second cordon line consisted mostly of DPG officers instructed to keep people away from the area and who also could be called on as armed back-up, if required….The final Inner Cordon consisted of mostly the Met’s Firearms Unit, SO19 who were all deployed in and around the buildings adjacent to the Libyan Embassy.

My first posting that night was to the middle cordon….It was really no different from most of the other fixed posts that I had stood on….Except that the streets were even more deserted than usual….After refreshment I was told with a few other officers that we would be assisting SO19 officers on the inner cordon….This meant that I would be getting very close to the suspects within the embassy itself….First I was taken to a room in an upper storey of an adjacent building….I was with an SO19 officer and we were just looking for movement and signs of life in the windows of the embassy…..But it was in the early hours of the morning and there was nothing to see….The blinds remained tightly shut…..I would spend an hour in that room and after that I was escorted down stairs and through darkened corridors and my guide then stopped outside a ground floor door….As he opened the door the DPG officer who had been in there before me left and I was directed to take his place.

The room was pitch black and the only light came from the window….The voice of the S019 officer was all I could hear….”Just let your eyes get used to the darkness for a couple of minutes, Mate and then I’ll tell you what’s happening.”

As my eyes adjusted to the gloomy conditions my SO19 partner for the next hour explained the situation. “You and I are now the front line of defence for this containment….If anything happens in the next hour then we will be very busy indeed….That door you can see through the window is the back door of the Libyan Embassy….If they decide to make a run for it they can only go two ways….Either out the front door, which is most unlikely….Or through that door over there…..If they DO emerge through that door then they will be running towards our door…..If anyone does try to leave the building, I will challenge them in the usual way…..But the likelihood is that IF they decide to come out and escape through THAT door, they will come out shooting….In which case we will return fire….OK?”

“Erm, Yes….They will be firing automatic weapons and I will be returning fire with my revolver and 12 rounds of ammunition?”

He sounded amused, “Not quite….I have three rifles here. If we do have to engage them then I will be using them….Now give me your right hand”

In the darkness he placed my hand on the cold metal of a large firearm. “This is your weapon….It’s a pump action shotgun. Have you ever fired one before?”

“No.”

“Never mind it’s really very simple….Lift it off the cushion and feel it’s weight….The safety catch is on… Put the stock to your shoulder and point it at the window….OK?”

“Yes”

“If we are called into action, you WILL NOT open fire until I have started shooting…..As soon as I open fire than you can release your safety catch….If multiple targets appear, select the closest to you, aim and pull the trigger….Remember, you can’t fire again until you have pumped the next round into the chamber so after each shot you must slide the loading mechanism fully forward and then fully back….Then you will be ready to fire again….So it’s safety catch off, aim, fire, pump and reload, aim, fire, pump….Got it?”

“Yes.”

“Good you are loaded with ten rounds….Hopefully that will be enough between the two of us…..But If they are still running across the courtyard after we run out of ammunition then we have a bit of a problem….Then we draw our side arms and make a tactical withdrawal before they break our door down….All clear?”

“Err, yes, I think so.”

“Don’t sound so worried….The chances of them making a break for it in the next 50 minutes are quite remote ….We’ll be fine.”

“Promise?”

“No!” But I sensed a grin.

But he was right….Fifty minutes later I was relieved by another DPG officer who, presumably received the same briefing that I had been given…. And I was happy to stagger away from the inner cordon and into the light of another dawn. I was very grateful to be heading home again.

The Libyan Embassy Siege in St James Square ended on April 27th when the Libyan staff were led out of the embassy, put into a bus and taken to the airport to be flown home to Tripoli….Yvonne’s killer never did and probably never will stand trial for her murder.

The mistakes that led to this awful incident were many…..But perhaps the worst mistake of all was that Yvonne’s death could have and should have been prevented.

Apparently, the day before the shooting, General Gaddafi ordered that two dissident Libyan students should be executed by public hanging in Tripoli…..This prompted international outrage and objections which led to Libyans living in the UK to stage their protest outside the embassy on April 17th…..The Home office warned the embassy that a lawful demonstration was to be held in the street outside the embassy and the embassy reacted angrily…..The Home Office told them that the demonstration was lawful and would be allowed to go ahead…..The Libyan Embassy then sent a telex message to Tripoli and suggested three courses of action.

1) They could ignore it and do nothing.

2) Knowing that the local police would be unarmed, they could let a small group of armed diplomats leave the embassy, seize as many demonstrators as possible and take them back to the embassy for punishment.

3) Simply open fire on the demonstrators from within the embassy.

Somebody in Tripoli, presumably with Gadaffi’s permission, authorised the third option to be carried out…..These messages were all intercepted by the American security services who immediately notified MI5 as to the contents of the messages…..It would seem that whoever received that message from the Americans did not see fit to notify either the Home Office or New Scotland Yard about the threat.

The rest, as they say, “Is History.”