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Councillor to pay hundreds after police station protest

Ted Peskett
Local Democracy Reporting Service
LDRS Imran Latif with dark hair, beard and moustache, wearing black glasses and a black jacketLDRS
Councillor Imran Latif locked himself to another person at a police station protest in June 2024

A councillor has been ordered to pay hundreds of pounds after he locked himself to another person as part of a protest at a police station.

Imran Latif, who represents the Penylan ward at Cardiff council, was suspended from the Liberal Democrats group last year after he was charged with two offences relating to the June 2024 protest about an individual who had been arrested at an earlier demonstration.

The 45-year-old pleaded guilty to locking himself to a person to cause significant disturbance at a Cardiff Magistrates' Court hearing on Tuesday.

The second charge, of using threatening or abusive words or behaviour likely to cause a disturbance, was dismissed after no evidence was offered.

A total of 16 people were arrested after what police described as a spontaneous protest in the front desk area of Cardiff Bay Police Station at 21:30 BST on 3 June 2024.

It look place just hours after another protest involving 50 to 60 protesters in Cardiff city centre. At the time, it was reported people were protesting against the war in Gaza.

The court heard how Latif entered the police station, sat on the floor and locked himself to another protester.

Jaggery/Geograph The outside of a police station building, which is brown and white with lots of windows and stairs at the front. In front of the building is a main road, with traffic lights.Jaggery/Geograph
The spontaneous protest took place at Cardiff Bay Police Station, hours after a bigger demonstration in the city centre

Nadeem Majid, representing Latif, said his client was not part of the protest in the city centre earlier that day and had gone to the police station to find out what was going on.

The court was told the second protest was over concerns about an individual who had been arrested at the earlier demonstration.

Mr Majid said his client "fully realises the foolishness" of his actions, adding he had "been fully transparent" about his role in the demonstration.

District judge Mark Layton sentenced Latif to an 18-month conditional discharge and ordered him to pay a total of £776.

A Cardiff council spokesperson said a condition discharge did not "preclude a councillor from acting in the office of member of a local authority in Wales".

"In due course it will be a matter for the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales to consider whether the actions of the councillor will meet the threshold of an investigation of a potential breach of Cardiff council's members' code of conduct," they added.

The Welsh Liberal Democrats group said it would review the incident through internal processes.