‘Don’t give up…sell your poppy with pride’: Defiant poppy sellers urge other volunteers to continue raising cash after many were left too terrified to go out or forced to wear bodycams for protection amid tensions with pro-Palestine protesters
- The public and MPs have today rallied around Royal British Legion poppy sellers
Defiant poppy sellers have urged other volunteers to continue raising money after many were left too scared to go out or forced to wear bodycams for protection amid tensions with pro-Palestine activists.
Members of the public and MPs have today rallied around Royal British Legion volunteers after victims claimed they have been intimidated, verbally abused and even punched in public places such as stations.
MailOnline visited rail stations across London where poppy sellers remained positive ahead of Armistice Day, which coincides with pro-Palestine protesters taking to the streets to call for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war for a fourth Saturday running.
Tracy Cooper, 65, who has sold poppies in Paddington Station for 22 years, urged other poppy sellers to ‘go out and sell your poppy with pride’.
Ms Cooper, who was selling poppies since 7.45am and will keep going until around 7pm, was helped by Nicky Veschiera, 60, and her friend Audrey, also 60.
Tracy Cooper (left), 65, who has sold poppies in Paddington Station for 22 years, urged other poppy sellers to ‘go out and sell your poppy with pride’. She was helped by Nicky Veschiera, 60, and her friend Audrey, also 60
Priscilla Congreve, an 83-year-old poppy seller at Notting Hill Gate station said that members of the public have come up to her and asked: ‘Are you okay?’ She said selling poppies was about ‘helping those wounded in the war’
Miranda Colvin, 77, remained upbeat despite the threats to the safety of poppy sellers. She defiantly said: ‘We are not scared’
Last weekend, a trio of poppy sellers at Charing Cross Station in London were surrounded by pro-Palestine protesters, preventing them selling poppies
In a motivational call to intimated volunteers, she added: ‘Don’t let anybody stop you. It’s a great cause and there are plenty of people around to help you. Sell poppies no matter what. Don’t give up. Don’t feel intimidated. Keep going. It’s a great cause and it helps the right people.’
Also volunteering at Paddington Station was 66-year-old Ken who served in the army in Northern Ireland and the Falklands and has sold poppies for around 20 years.
Ken, whose father also served in North Africa with parts of the Indian army, pre-partition, told MailOnline: ‘Anybody that goes around punching someone is a criminal.
‘Violence begets violence. Violence against anybody doesn’t work. [Selling poppies] promotes understanding. Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t understand what the poppy is about.
‘It’s about helping people who have been affected by war. It is a thank you, really.
Addressing his fellow poppy sellers around the UK, he said: ‘Persevere. The majority of people are tolerant.’
At nearby High Street Kensington, Miranda Colvin, 77, remained upbeat despite the threats to the safety of poppy sellers.
She told MailOnline: ‘It’s nothing but extraordinary generosity. Not at all [scared]. Maybe it’s because it’s enclosed [at High Street Kensington station]. We are on our own and we are not afraid. The generosity is just amazing.’
Priscilla Congreve, an 83-year-old poppy seller at Notting Hill Gate station said that members of the public have come up to her and asked: ‘Are you okay?’
She added: ‘The staff at this station are lovely. There’s always somebody at the gates.
‘I don’t understand why they should punch a poppy seller. It’s for helping those wounded in the war. I’m not going into central London tomorrow.’
Shadow Defence Secretary John Healey, left, joins Poppy Appeal organisers at King’s Cross last year. Right, this year, the same spot is unoccupied today but a poppy remains on the wall. MailOnline understands there have been no poppy sellers there for three days
Liverpool Street station in 2021 (left) and (right) today, with no poppy sellers seen in the station at all by MailOnline
A Royal British Legion band (left) in Henley on Thames and (right) in the same spot today
Mansion House Tube station, left in 2017, and right today
Olive Cooke selling poppies in Bristol Cathedral (left). After her death the spot was taken over by another volunteer but it is empty today (right)
Poppy sellers at Westminster Station in 2017, left. The same spot today, right
The irate woman hits out at the pensioner behind the stall – saying it is ‘not acceptable’ to the Catholic community for her to be selling the remembrance material
When MailOnline visted poppy sellers at St Pancras station, volunteers revealed they had been told not to speak to press in the wake of reported attacks on their colleagues.
Some sellers were wearing body worn cameras but said they had been part of the uniform for 18 months.
One of the four said Royal British Legion, the charity behind the iconic poppies, were collecting ‘incidents’ and suggested reporters contact its press office.
She said: ‘Actually I’ve just been asked to wear this uniform.
Security at American war cemetery in UK stepped up for Veterans Day service after graves were vandalised
A war cemetery in Cambridgeshire has stepped up its security for its Veterans Day service tomorrow – after graves were targeted at the start of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Extra police are expected to be present for the service at the American War Cemetery in Madingley, near Cambridge tomorrow, which is being held a day before Remembrance Day.
The cemetery contains 3,811 headstones of American soldiers, most of whom died in the Battle of the Atlantic or the air bombardment of northwest Europe.
Around 70 graves in the cemetery were vandalised with stickers at the start of the Middle Esat conflict.
Tomorrow poppy wreaths will be laid at the cemetery to honour the Americans buried in England who died in both world wars. It marks 105 years since the end of the First World War.
Gardeners were seen today preparing the site by blowing away the leaves and trimming around the crosses and headstones.
The team spend two hours a week polishing the headstones and three times a week they also clean the headstones using scrubbing brushes and diamond pads to remove dirt and bird droppings.
The Cambridge American Cemetery refused to comment about the security.
‘I know the RBL have been collecting information about things that have been happening.
‘We’ve all been asked not to comment. [The body worn camera] has always been part of the uniform in this station.’
Commuters at nearby Kings Cross and Euston station claimed they had not seen poppy sellers in recent days.
Security and other railway staff claimed poppy sellers haven’t been inside King’s Cross station for three days.
One worker at Euston said: ‘I’ve not seen them all week.
‘They normally do it for four or five weeks, but this year they’ve only done it for one week.
‘Whether or not it’s for the protest, I don’t know. But if it is it’s really sad.’
Another member of staff at the information desk said he had struggled to find a place to buy his poppy.
At Kings Cross, a security officer said: ‘They’ve gone now [the poppy sellers]. They left three days ago.
‘I don’t know why, it’s done now.’
It comes as the American War Cemetery near Cambridge stepped up security ahead of its Veterans Day service tomorrow – after 70 graves were vandalised at the start of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Tory MP Michael Fabricant told MailOnline that he had spoken to people who are now ‘nervous’ about wearing a poppy.
He said: ‘I have been wearing my poppy with pride. Police and the general public should all wear poppies as in previous years to show solidarity with the normal, decent people in the UK. I noticed how relatively few people are wearing poppies this year. On asking, one told me he couldn’t find a poppy seller while another said he was nervous being seen in London with one due to the demonstrations’.
Conservative MP Bob Seely told MailOnline: ‘I think millions of people up and down the country will be frankly, dismayed and appalled that a hard left rent a-mob seem to be intimidating Poppy sellers, many of whom are veterans doing their bit and taking a really important and valuable role in reminding us of the importance of Remembrance Sunday and the Remembrance weekend’.
A volunteer selling poppies in a Northern Ireland Tesco supermarket was filmed being verbally abused by a woman who asked repeatedly who gave her permission to sell ‘badges for murderers’. One veteran in Scotland claimed he was beaten up.
Ahead of a huge protest in London on Armistice Day, pro-Palestine sit-ins have successfully vanquished poppy sellers from Britain’s busiest railways stations. MailOnline visited Liverpool Street and Kings Cross today and they were missing from their traditional spots.
A lone poppy seller at Waterloo Station today
Two volunteers speak to a commuter at Charing Cross Station in central London today
Serving personnel hand out poppies and collect donations for the Royal British Legion Appeal at Liverpool Street Station (left) and the same sport today (right)
Anne Harrison selling poppies at the entrance to Bristol Cathedral last year. There was no seller there today (right)
But Will Hamilton was out selling poppies in an Oxfordshire Waitrose today
And the area at Bristol Cathedral used by poppy-seller Olive Cooke, who died in 2015 after being ‘tormented’ by cold-callers, also lies empty. Her spot inside the church was taken by another volunteer but is empty today.
One RBL supporter tweeted: ‘I’m genuinely too scared to wear a poppy around London this year, no one is around to protect you, defend yourself and either end up getting assault charges or beaten up’.
READ MORE: Demands to sack Suella Braverman after No10 says it did NOT sign off her bombshell article slamming Met chief for ‘playing favourites’ by allowing pro-Palestinian march on Armistice Day
Suella Braverman (right) escalated the standoff with Met commissioner Mark Rowley (left) by suggesting that he would be tougher if the protests were in a different cause
Staff at Victoria said that no sellers had been there for the first three days this week while at Euston, one worker told The Sun: ‘They used to be here for three weeks, but since Monday they have disappeared. It would be awful if they felt scared’. There was nobody at London Bridge yesterday.
And when stalls were set up, at Charing Cross, protesters surrounded two women sellers, preventing the public getting to them to buy their poppies.
One seller at Waterloo told the i newspaper that there is a shortage of volunteers in some areas, made worse by the events in recent days, adding: ‘It is a bit of a perfect storm for some volunteers and we can’t run as many stalls as we would like.’.
Bob Seely told MailOnline: ‘I think millions of people will be extraordinarily unimpressed at the way that the pro-Palestinian groups, including members of the mainstream left and former Hamas leaders, are trying to hijack an exceptionally important weekend in our British national life.
‘I completely agree that people have the right to protest, and I agree that they have the right to be concerned about civilian casualties.
‘So am I, but there is a time and a place for this This weekend as neither the time, nor the place’.
The pro-Palestinian cause is badly damaging itself by the deliberate disrespect it is showing to veterans, and to a national weekend of remembrance. They should perhaps try behaving with the dignity veterans show.’
Trouble could be on its way after Scotland Yard’s commissioner gave the green light to a pro-Palestine rally on Armistice Day, despite fears of violent clashes with Right-wing counter-protesters.
In a thinly veiled swipe at the Home Secretary, Sir Mark Rowley said intelligence did not meet the threshold to apply for a ban under rarely used powers.
Today footage emerged of a Northern Irish Tesco shopper hits out at a poppy seller, demanding to know who gave her permission to sell ‘badges for murderers’.
The irate customer calls the store’s security on the pensioner sitting behind the stall – telling her it is ‘not acceptable’ to the Catholic community for her to be selling the Remembrance poppies.
Ulster Unionist Party leader Doug Beattie said the poppy selling pensioner looked ‘intimated’ in the video.
In response to a tweet saying the irate woman was upset over ‘RUC and UDR badges’ being sold and not the poppies, he said they are ‘sold every year’ alongside the poppies to raise funds for the British Legion.
He wrote: ‘[The badges are] Sold every year to raise funds for the poppy appeal and RBL. If you can’t see how intimidating it was for this lady then maybe you are part of the issue I raise in my original tweet.’
Volunteers will not be returning to Liverpool Street Station in London, staff confirmed after 500 people from the protest staged a sit-in at the busy train hub.
Workers at Victoria and Euston stations said no sellers had turned up since Monday, while a giant poppy at the entrance to King’s Cross station is also said to have been taken down.
Three lonesome volunteers remained at St Pancras station but one wore a bodycam, with the unnamed charity worker telling the Sun: ‘This is just part of our uniform now.’
Their disappearance comes just days after Jim Henderson, a 78-year-old poppy seller who served in the Army in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, alleged he had been kicked and punched while manning a stand in Edinburgh Waverly Station.
Poppy-seller Jim Henderson, 78, (pictured) claimed that he was kicked and punched at Edinburgh Waverley on Saturday when a demonstration took place
Social media footage shows the 78-year-old trying to escape the huge swarm of demonstrators at Edinburgh Waverly Station
Footage showed the volunteer in a distinctive red beret trying to escape as 1,200 demonstrators descended into the station protesting against Israel’s attacks on Gaza.
Mr Henderson told the Mail: ‘I was getting shoved backwards, in danger of falling, and one of them stood on my foot and split my toe,’ adding ‘I got another punch in my side’.
READ MORE: Met Police WON’T ban Poppy Day pro-Palestine rally: Force Commissioner says Gaza event ‘does not meet the threshold’ to be outlawed despite fears of clashes and disruption with tens of thousands expected on London’s streets
In a separate incident over the weekend, three volunteers at a poppy stand in Charing Cross Station in London were surrounded by a gang of protesters. Photos show the brave volunteers continuing to sit in the station with a look of dismay as the demonstrators chanted around them.
Despite the chaos seen on Saturday, sellers returned to Charing Cross and Waterloo Station which has also been a spot for the pro-Palestine rallies.
The marches, on the whole, have been peaceful with only a small majority causing violence.
Commuters expressed their upset following the poppy sellers retreat from their regular spots in stations.
Adam Hill, 54, from Lincoln, who was travelling through King’s Cross told the Sun yesterday: ‘I would have loved to buy a poppy here today. They used to be here for three weeks, but since Monday they have disappeared. It would be awful if they felt scared.’
Another commuter Laura Evans, 41, said: ‘It’s disgusting that it’s come to this. Unfortunately that’s the world we live in and there’s not enough police to protect everybody.’
A security worker added: ‘I’m not surprised. There’s been a tense atmosphere. They’ve decided to put safety first.’
MailOnline has contacted the Royal British Legion for comment.
Poppy sellers’ withdrawal has sparked fury from politicians, with the Prime Minister ‘appalled’ by the ‘intimidation and abuse’ some volunteers have experienced.
Rishi Sunak said police have his ‘full support to take action against this deplorable behaviour’ before thanking the ‘brave armed forces’ fort he work they do.
The Metropolitan Police has confirmed that a pro-Palestine rally on Armistice Day in London can go ahead, with commissioner Mark Rowley claiming he had ‘absolutely no power’ to ban the protest.
More than 70,000 people are expected to head into the capital for the march on Monday, which is due to take place hours after the Remembrance Day event at the Cenotaph in Whitehall.
TODAY: Poppy sellers were noticeably absent from Liverpool Street Station today
OCTOBER 28: A sit-in pro-Palestine protest at London Liverpool Street station
Staff working at the stations claim the volunteers are scared while another volunteer said they have to wear a bodycam
The Metropolitan Police has said it cannot do anything about the pro-Palestine protest taking place on Armistice Day
The PM offered a stark warning last weekend that there was a ‘clear and present risk’ that the Cenotaph and other war memorials could be ‘desecrated’ during the march on Armistice Day.
READ MORE: Armistice Day under attack: Now JSO protest at the Cenotaph after poppy sellers were swamped by pro-Palestine rallies and forced to pack up and leave – as calls grow for ban on November 11 demonstrations
It led to patriotic protesters and veterans stood guarding the memorial in Whitehall while a pro-Palestinian demonstration – which had been largely peaceful – gathered a short walk away at Trafalgar Square.
Fears were raised earlier this week that there could be violent clashes between marches and Right-wing groups.
Groups of football hooligans are planning to join forces to ‘protect’ the Cenotaph from any protesters who veer from the official route, set to avoid Whitehall, the Mail Revealed.
One of the groups – Football Lads Against Extremism – claimed veterans have reached out and asked for support.
It comes after EDL founder Tommy Robinson wrote ‘Saturday 11/11/11 London, your country needs you’, in one of his first posts after being allowed back on to X, formerly Twitter.
It came after Mr Sunak slammed the planned event as ‘disrespectful’ and Home Secretary Suella Braverman controversially called the rally a ‘hate march’.
Last night Sir Mark said: ‘The laws created by Parliament are clear. There is no absolute power to ban protest, therefore there will be a protest this weekend,’ he insisted.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman doubled down on her description of the demonstrators as ‘hate marchers’ and describing their behaviour as ‘thuggish’
Metropolitan Police officers guard the Cenotaph war memorial in Whitehall following a row
On Saturday patriotic protesters and veterans stood guarding the memorial in Whitehall while a pro-Palestinian demonstration – which had been largely peaceful – gathered a short walk away at Trafalgar Square
‘The law provides no mechanism to ban a static gathering of people. It contains legislation which allows us to impose conditions to reduce disruption and the risk of violence, and in the most extreme cases when no other tactics can work, for marches or moving protests to be banned.’
READ MORE: PM brands attack on poppy seller ‘repulsive’ as police confirm they’re investigating
The Met Police Commissioner added that the organisers of Saturday’s protest had shown ‘complete willingness to stay away from the Cenotaph and Whitehall and have no intention of disrupting the nation’s remembrance events’.
‘Should this change, we’ve been clear we will use powers and conditions available to us to protect locations and events of national importance at all costs,’ Sir Mark said.
Jonathan Hall KC, the independent reviewer on terror laws, warned of a risk of ‘extreme Right-wing terrorist backlash’ if the rally went ahead, while former UKIP leader Nigel Farage accused the Met of being ‘gutless’ after failing to ban the event.
Ever since Hamas launched its attack on Israel on October 7 – which has seen more than 1,400 killed and hundreds kidnapped – pro-Palestine groups have been holding marches throughout London.
Previous rallies have seen officers injured with fireworks, protesters holding up extremist imagery and multiple people arrested for anti-Semitic chanting.
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