The leader of Westminster City Council has called for the suspension of pro-Palestine marches. Councillor Paul Swaddle has written a letter to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to express his concerns over planned protests in Westminster on Saturday, May 16.
A clash between rival protest groups will also coincide with the FA Cup Final this weekend. The Metropolitan Police has said it could be one of the busiest days of policing in Central London in recent years.
Pro-Palestine protesters will take to the streets on Saturday for Nakba Day, which marks the displacement of Palestinians during the Arab-Israeli War in 1948. They will be joined by protesters from Stand Up To Racism. Meanwhile, Unite The Kingdom will also be holding a protest in the name of Tommy Robinson on Saturday.
In his letter to the Home Secretary, Cllr Paul Swaddle stated: "We agree with the Government's reviewer of terrorism legislation, Jonathan Hall KC, that there should be a 'moratorium' on pro-Palestinian marches. To be clear, we support freedom of speech and assembly, but this should be proportionate. For too long, these continuous almost weekly marches and protests have added to the challenges facing our most vulnerable residents and communities and send damaging messages that extremist opinions are acceptable."
He urged the Home Secretary and Sir Mark Rowley, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service, to convene an urgent meeting to discuss the protests and other related issues. The Metropolitan Police Service has indicated that it is likely to spend around £4.5 million on policing the event on Saturday. Approximately 4,000 police officers will be part of the operation across London, including 600 officers from other police forces across England and Wales.
Police Concerns and Security Measures
Deputy Assistant Commissioner James Harman said: "The terrorism threat level has been raised to severe, and in recent weeks and months we have seen a terrorist attack and a sustained campaign of arsons targeting Jewish Londoners against a backdrop of increasing hate crime, in particular antisemitism. Fears in Jewish communities are particularly heightened, but we have also seen increased concerns more broadly, including in Muslim communities."
He added: "This combination of risk and complexity leaves us no choice but to implement a policing plan that imposes the highest degree of control on all groups intending to protest and move about Central London on Saturday. The scale of the operation is unprecedented in recent years. The planning for it has been ongoing for months."
The Home Office has also worked to remove permission to travel to the UK from those whose presence they did not feel was conducive to the public good, the Met said. Live facial recognition, helicopters, drones, dog units, police horses, and armoured vehicles will also be deployed. The protests will be placed under strict conditions.
Previous Violence and Arrests
There was violence in multiple locations at the Unite the Kingdom protests in September last year. A number of arrests were made, and there are more than 50 outstanding and unidentified suspects. Since October 2023, there have been 33 large protests organised by the groups that make up the Palestine Coalition. The Met said it has routinely seen arrests for racially and religiously aggravated public order offences, for stirring up racial hatred, and for supporting terrorist organisations.
Palestine Coalition Response
The Palestine Coalition describes itself as the "biggest organisation in the UK dedicated to securing Palestinian human rights." It stated that it believes Palestinians should "have the same rights and freedoms as anyone else."
A spokesperson for the group said: "On Saturday 16 May, we will march in London for the annual commemoration of the Nakba – the catastrophe inflicted on the Palestinian people by the state of Israel since 1948 – and to show our opposition to the British government's support for Israel's crimes including genocide and apartheid. As always, the Nakba Day march will be a diverse and multi-generational event of huge significance to the Palestinian community in particular, involving children and the very elderly. They will march alongside thousands of Jewish people and others, many of them proudly displaying their Jewish identity as part of the Jewish Bloc and as platform speakers, including an 88-year-old Holocaust survivor. By bringing together people from all backgrounds, we will reaffirm our consistent opposition to every form of racism and bigotry including anti-Palestinian racism, antisemitism, and Islamophobia."
The Home Office did not respond to the LDRS request for comment. The Metropolitan Police said it regularly engages with Westminster City Council on protests.
