A police officer became a 'huge meme' yesterday, after being spotted wearing a well-groomed beard whilst trying to keep the peace in Walthamstow in London, where the EDL clashed with anti-fascist protestors.

The jokes rained down.

"Anyone want to get a kale smoothie after the riot?" one Twitter user laughed at for a full five minutes before posting.

"What's his favourite riot? You've probably never heard of it," another joked with equal hilarity.

However, an investigation carried out by The Independent has uncovered that he isn't in fact a "hipster cop" there solely for your ridicule but just a regular guy trying to do his job who happened to wax his moustache slightly that morning.

The officer, who has chosen to remain nameless, tried to laugh off the beard-shaming as more lame pennyfarthing jokes rolled in, with his colleagues posting selfies with him - hat pulled down over eyes – and laughing at all the captions.