Organiser of pro-Palestinian march on Armistice Day refuses Met plea to cancel
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign says it has no intention of calling off the demonstration after Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan said "the risk of violence and disorder linked to breakaway groups is growing".
Monday 6 November 2023 22:36, UK
The organiser of a pro-Palestinian march has insisted it will go ahead on Armistice Day despite police urging groups to cancel their plans.
One of the Met's most senior officers asked them to "urgently reconsider" because it was "not appropriate to hold any protests in London this weekend".
However, the main organiser said the march would take place as planned and expressed deep concern at the police statement.
The prime minister has condemned the plan to march on Saturday - when many pause at 11am to remember the war dead - as "provocative and disrespectful".
Rishi Sunak said there was "a clear and present risk" that memorials such as the Cenotaph "could be desecrated".
Home Secretary Suella Braverman called it "entirely unacceptable to desecrate Armistice Day with a hate march through London".
She told Sky News anyone trying to vandalise the Cenotaph "must be put into a jail cell faster than their feet can touch the ground".
Organisers have said the protest will be "well away" from the monument, instead going from Hyde Park to the US embassy, and that it won't start until after the 11am silence.
On Monday, Met Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan issued a statement saying "the risk of violence and disorder linked to breakaway groups is growing".
"This is of concern ahead of a significant and busy weekend in the capital," he added.
"Our message to organisers is clear: Please, we ask you to urgently reconsider. It is not appropriate to hold any protests in London this weekend."
But the Palestine Solidarity Campaign said it had no intention of calling off the demonstration.
"We will be holding a protest on Saturday and we invite all people of conscience to join us in peacefully marching," it said.
The group said the Met had asked it to postpone for a week, but that it was "categorically not true that the police told us that it was not appropriate to protest this weekend".
"They raised a concern about the possibility of breakaway groups leaving the march but were not able to provide any evidence as to why this risk would be increased on Saturday 11th November," it added.
Palestine Solidarity Campaign said it would continue to work with police to ensure public safety.
Stop The War coalition also said it had met with police on Monday and "argued that we wanted to march and were determined to go ahead".
First minister 'beyond angry' at Braverman
Thousands have protested in recent weeks over Palestinian deaths in the Israel-Hamas war, with 11 arrests during a fourth week of protests last Saturday, when a dispersal order was authorised.
Five people were also arrested at a pro-Palestinian protest at London's King's Cross station on Friday.
No demonstrations are planned for Remembrance Sunday, when veterans parade past the Cenotaph and politicians and royals lay wreaths.
On Monday, the home secretary welcomed the statement from the Met Police, saying on X: "The hate marchers need to understand that decent British people have had enough of these displays of thuggish intimidation and extremism."
Police have said "all powers and tactics" are available, including asking the home secretary to ban Saturday's march under the Public Order Act if there's a risk of serious disorder.
"We fully appreciate the national significance of Armistice Day," said Met Police Commander Karen Findlay.
"Thousands of officers will be deployed in an extensive security operation and we will use all powers and tactics at our disposal to ensure that anyone intent on disrupting it will not succeed."
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Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf - whose family was trapped in Gaza until recently - said the march on Armistice Day should go ahead.
He said he was "beyond angry" at the language used by the home secretary and UK government, who he accused of turning "every issue into a culture war".
"Yes, in every single march, I'm afraid you'll get one or two idiots who will do and say something that we all universally condemn," said Mr Yousaf.
"But to describe those hundreds of thousands in London, in cities across the UK, including here in Scotland, as full of hate or hate marches is completely unacceptable."