A Sharp Wake Up Call: We need to talk about Amy

Mike Stuchbery on a troubling incident from London’s anti-Trump demonstrations.

Amongst yesterday’s anti-Trump protests in London, a few specific moments stand out. One of those was the moment a woman, live-streaming on her phone, attacked the smaller of the two ‘Trump Baby’ inflatables with scissors. In the process she accidentally cut herself, requiring stitches, and was subsequently arrested, before being released.

Amy Dalla Mura, who calls herself ‘Based Amy’, is hardly a stranger to anybody who has observed the wave of Far Right protests across London over the last two years. She’s a dependable presence, one arm on her crutch, the other holding a selfie stick, heckling and abusing police and passersby.

Prior to her protesting career, Dalla Mura received an ASBO in 2007 banning her from the coastline of the United Kingdom, having cost emergency services over £1,000,000 in suicide attempts. Before this, she is believed to have been a professional golfer.

She next emerged in March 2019, when BBC footage showed her being removed from the Parliamentary lobby after confronting Anna Soubry MP and calling her a ‘traitor‘. She was preemptively removed weeks later having entered the lobby.

Dalla Mura’s regular attendance at Far Right events has consistently propelled her into the spotlight. In 2018 she featured in a video supposedly depicting a woman being knocked out in a London Sharia ‘No Go Zone’. While she was knocked to the ground, nearly everything else stated about the video was false.

Prior to attacking the inflatable, she most recently came to public attention when she heckled David Davies MP outside Parliament, using an amplified headset, the video of which went viral.

Judging by her social media presence, she primarily uses crowdfunding services to fund her weekly trips to London to protest, although fellow Far Right activists have suggested that she also claims disability benefits.

While it is difficult, not to mention unethical, to diagnose an individual based on their public appearances, it is clear that Dalla Mura feels fiercely driven to confront and intimidate individuals who do not share her political beliefs. Whether she is primarily motivated by money, attention or sincere belief, it is clear that her behaviour is escalating.

That Dalla Mura feels motivated to take a bladed instrument into the heart of London, with the express purpose of committing an act of criminal vandalism should be of greater concern not only to police, but to security services, considering her track record – not to mention healthcare providers.

Until now, despite a number of confrontations with police, she has been allowed to come and go outside Parliament and other policed spaces, such as protests, without challenge.

Dalla Mura is by no means the only individual for whom Brexit and the current political turmoil has granted a somewhat problematic stage, but it is clear that the current deadlock is causing a marked surge in what is very troubling behaviour.

Must we wait until a more serious incident occurs, before action is taken? Will it take another MP being attacked?

*This article was amended on 6 June to clarify that Ms Dalla Mura cut herself by accident during the incident at the anti-Trump protests.