Police sorry after disrupting funeral

The Metropolitan Police and Hackney Council have apologised after 83 people were searched in a churchyard while a funeral was being held.

They were taken to a marquee put up in St John's Churchyard, in Hackney, after being arrested elsewhere as part of an operation targeting youth knife crime. The council admitted it was wrong to allow the police operation to be held at the same time as the funeral.

"Hackney Council apologises for the part it played in the upset caused to mourners by the presence of a police marquee set up on private land in St John's Churchyard," a council spokeswoman said.

"We made a mistake by allowing this operation to take place at the same time as the funeral and are putting measures in place to ensure that this does not happen again."