A YOUNG woman held in a police station for several hours claimed yesterday that she was told could not leave until she removed her hijab yesterday after a #BlackLivesMatter solidarity protest in London.

The campaigner, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of victimisation, was on her very first demonstration when she found herself kettled and arrested by Metropolitan Police.

She was one of 76 people taken into custody for “violent disorder” despite witnesses arguing the event was peaceful.

Photojournalist Neelam Khan Vela was among those arrested, spending a total of 13 hours under police custody.

“It was unexpected because the demo was not being violent at all,” she said about the sudden police escalation.

“They just did it to intimidate us.

“I was at the protest taking pictures and I was still charged.”

Legal Defence and Monitoring Group spokesman Andy Meinke told the Star the process of sudden kettle and mass-arrest had not been used by the Met in recent events.

Mr Meinke explained that demanding the removal of headscarves is not common, but isn’t technically illegal.

“There are codes of practice, rules on how it’s done, but there’s a potential challenge as it is an invasion of privacy,” he added.

Many other arrested protesters complained about the “surreal” conditions of the arrest.

Mary Christopher, another arrested protester, said she was taken on a police-driven routemaster on a two hour drive to Sutton police station.

“I have no idea how they commandeered a London bus, but it seems inappropriate, a waste of bus resources and downright weird,” she said.

“One thing I observed is that the police are comfortable with giving you incorrect information, such as the police officer who arrested me and told me there are many instances where they could interview me without a solicitor present.

“He also told me to dismiss information written on the bust cards (detailing what to do if arrested) distributed at protests.”

The arrests took place after a 600-strong demonstration took over Shepherd’s Bush Green, blocking part of the local traffic.

Protesters held placards reading “London can’t breathe” and the motto “black lives matter” in solidarity with African-Americans who have died at the hands of US police.

Over 200 demonstrators had managed to shut down Westfield shopping centre earlier by staging a die-in in the central atrium.

Despite mass arrest and freezing conditions, organisers London Black Revolutionaries were proud of the action.

Rally MC Shanice McBean said: “The protest was encouraging.

“What’s clear is that a new layer of young, angry but determined activists — full of working-class people, women and LGBT folk — are rising up against police violence and are creating the seeds of a movement against state violence and repression.”