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A row has broken out between police and Palestine protesters ahead of a national march in London this Saturday.
The Metropolitan Police are threatening to place what organisers say are “severe” restrictions on this Saturday’s Palestine protest, due to several other events happening in central London this weekend.
It comes after the UK suspended around 30 arms licences to Israel, due to the risk they could be used in breach of international humanitarian law.
Palestine protesters want the Government to go much further and suspend all 350 active arms licences to Israel. Conservatives accuse the Government of a betrayal of Israel in the aftermath of the October 7th Hamas attacks.
The PM’s spokesman told journalists on Wednesday that the decision to temporarily suspend some export licences to Israel was based on a legal process rather than any political decisions. No 10 insisted the Government was “steadfast” in support of Israel’s security.
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This Saturday’s demonstration will see police try to delay the usual start time by one hour and 45 minutes, to 2:30 pm, and to place fresh conditions on where marchers can go.
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign claims no explanation has been given for the restrictions, which were announced to organisers last Friday. A PSC spokesperson said the Met Police had cancelled a meeting to discuss the protest plans.
It will be the 18th national ‘March for Palestine’ since October, which has seen thousands march to oppose Israel’s war on Gaza.
Organisers say they first informed the police of their plans on August 8th, more than three weeks ago.
PSC believes that delays, lack of communication, late changes, and imposition of conditions on “entirely peaceful demonstrations” are “forming a pattern of obstruction” by London’s police force.
The organisers have received backing from MPs, peers, and trade union leaders, urging the Metropolitan Police to “avoid causing disruption and accept that the march should go ahead at the normal, planned time”.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Met Police said the weekly London weekend protests against the war have had “a cumulative impact on our communities”.
The Met Police added that its goal was to protect the lawful right to protest while “minimising the impact of these events.”
A spokesperson for the force said significant negotiation and engagement with event organisers, faith communities, and local businesses had taken place ahead of this weekend.
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They claimed this Saturday presents a “unique” challenge, with two pre-existing annual events in Trafalgar and Parliament Square expected to draw more than 20,000 people to the area.
The Met Police official added: “Concerns have also been raised by businesses across central London, faith communities and transport partners.”
Ben Jamal, PSC Director, said: “Our plans have been in place and communicated to the Met police for weeks. We have worked with them on every one of the 17 Marches for Palestine so far to ensure we can exercise our democratic rights in a safe, peaceful and effective way. But continually the police have delayed meetings, tried to make changes at the eleventh hour on assembly points, and then consistently imposed restrictive orders on the protests without rationale or giving clear evidence.”
He added: “As [police] have publicly acknowledged, the marches have been overwhelmingly peaceful with no threat of major public disorder. To make changes to the start time seems to us to be a tactic designed to deter people from attending…
“It makes no practical sense for the Met to attempt to unilaterally rip up [previous] arrangements. This creates unjustified obstacles and logistical problems that we do not regard as acceptable. We urge the Met to rethink their approach.”
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan responded to the PSC concerns by saying: “We understand the strength of feeling around conditions on protests and always work hard to strike the balance between minimising the disruption to the public, businesses and community groups with the right to peacefully protest.”
He added: “We have worked with the PSC for weeks to agree plans and made efforts to explain the number of challenges which form part of this decision-making process. We have negotiated with them around a number of proposed conditions and made several alternative offers.
“We fully appreciate the scale of the demonstrations, with participants attending from across the country, and recognise that a delay in start time may inconvenience people. However, these changes are necessary to balance the wider impact to those who live, work and visit London.”
The Met Police’s conditions mean that the Palestine Solidarity Campaign procession must “not commence before 14:30 hours” on Saturday. Usually they start gathering at midday and then marching around 1pm.
The Public Order Act 1986 gives police the power to impose conditions on a procession or assembly of two or more people who are deemed to have a common purpose.
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