Met police: ‘routine’ arrests at pro-Palestinian marches for stirring up racial hatred

A senior Metropolitan police representative has described how frequent “Palestine Coalition” marches have “routinely seen arrests for racially and religiously aggravated public order offences, for stirring up racial hatred and for supporting terrorist organisations”, saying that “it is not normal to see criminality of this nature or on this scale at what are billed as peaceful protests.”

In comments ahead of this Saturday in central London, which is due to see two major protests taking place, Deputy Assistant Commissioner James Harman described how “The first of the two major protests is being held to mark Nakba Day. It is an annual protest organised by a coalition of groups including the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Stop the War and others.

After describing the route of the march, Harman noted that “there have been more than 33 large protests organised by the groups that make up the Palestine Coalition since October 2023. They typically involve a very broad range of people whose specific motives and allegiances differ greatly.

“While many come with good intentions and no desire to commit offences or spread hate, many others do not.”

The senior police officer said, in relation to the pro-Palestinian marches, that “we have routinely seen arrests for racially and religiously aggravated public order offences, for stirring up racial hatred and for supporting terrorist organisations. It is not normal to see criminality of this nature or on this scale at what are billed as peaceful protests.”

He went on to inform the media that “we have had to intervene to change the route for 21 out of the 33 protests. On 17 of those occasions that intervention was necessary to protect Jewish communities because the organisers were trying to assemble near, march past or finish near synagogues. These marches always take place on Saturdays which is the Jewish holy day, when Jews are attending religious services. This only adds to the fears already being felt.

“These persistent attempts to assemble and march in this way, together with the prevalence of hate crime and support for terrorism, has led many Jewish Londoners to feel intimidated and afraid of these protests.

“Many feel forced to change their behaviour as a result – avoiding travelling into central London, using public transport, wearing clothing or other items that identify them as Jewish. Nobody should be forced to take such steps to feel safe in London.”

The Deputy Assistant Commissioner also highlighted security concerns relating to the second large protest taking place, “the latest in a series of protests organised under the ‘Unite the Kingdom’ banner in the name of Stephen Yaxley Lennon who is better known as Tommy Robinson.”

Harman said that “these protests have also seen a real mixture of attendees with differing motives. Among the crowds we have seen many peaceful attendees, but also anti-Muslim chanting and incidents where people have been arrested for religiously and racially aggravated offences.

“At the Unite the Kingdom protest in September last year, there was violence in multiple locations when protesters attacked police officers and tried to reach opposing groups who were part of a counter protest. There were arrests for violence both during and after the event and we continue to have more than 50 outstanding and unidentified suspects for offences on that day.

“The nature and scale of these protests has left Muslim communities and those from other ethnic minority groups feeling scared. Much like the impact on Jewish Londoners on days when Palestine Coalition protests are taking place, we know Muslim Londoners and others who feel vulnerable avoid central London, and in particular transport hubs, changing their plans because they worry about crossing paths with Unite the Kingdom supporters.”

The senior officer said that the “combination of risk and complexity” associated with the marches in Central London, as well as the FA cup final at Wembley, “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.”

For the first time, Harman said, “we’ve also imposed conditions relating to the speakers at these protests. These conditions make the organisers responsible for ensuring speakers they invite don’t break the law by using these events as a platform for unlawful extremism or hate speech. Both the speakers and the organisers will face consequences if that happens.”

The Met Assistant Deputy Commissioner also said that “In the wake of the terror attack targeting Jews at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, we committed to taking a more assertive approach to chanting and the displaying of phrases on placards or banners that incite hatred or indicate support for terrorism or other forms of extremism.

“In recent months we’ve arrested and charged people for calling for intifada at protests and a number of those cases are going through the courts.

“In recent days, we have charged a man who directed chants of ‘death to the IDF’ towards a group of Jewish people outside a concert in London last November.

“As the context changes – with terrorist attacks, communities being targeted with violence simply for who they are and hate crime rising – the response of the whole criminal justice system needs to change too and we are working with our counterparts to achieve this.”