LONDON: A pro-Palestinian protest march planned for Armistice Day in the UK will go ahead, the head of London’s Metropolitan Police confirmed on Tuesday.
Sir Mark Rowley said there was no “legal mechanism” to ban such a gathering or static protest but his officers would keep protesters away from the Cenotaph in Whitehall, Central London, where remembrance and armistice events will also take place on the morning of Saturday, Nov. 11. However, the approach of officers will change if the demonstrators attempt to move toward that part of the city, he added.
“If, over the next few days, the intelligence evolves further and we get to such a high threshold — it’s only been done once in a decade — where we need to say to the home secretary we need to ban the march element, then of course we will do,” Rowley said. “But that’s a last resort we haven’t reached.”
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Home Secretary Suella Braverman had urged Rowley to prevent any protest from taking place on Saturday.
Sunak said the “provocative and disrespectful” march should not go ahead on the day when many Britons pause at 11:00 a.m. for a two-minute silence to remember those who gave their lives in conflicts. Braverman said it was “entirely unacceptable to desecrate Armistice Day with a hate march through London.”
Rowley said he has spoken to organizers of the protest, who gave assurances that it would remain “well away” from the Cenotaph in Whitehall. They said the march will wait until after the traditional two-minute silence at 11 a.m. before setting off from Hyde Park and moving toward the US embassy.
