Palestine Action supporters WILL face arrest at Al Quds day protest, Met suggests

New type of policing plan will see pro and anti-Iranian regime groups on either bank of the Thames, with the river acting as a natural barrier

The Metropolitan police have released further information relating to their policing plans for Al Quds Day protests on Sunday, including plans to use the river Thames as a natural barrier between pro and anti-Iranian regime groups, and indicating that those supporting Palestine Action will face arrest.

At press briefing this afternoon, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan, described how a static (stationary) protest and counter-protest would take place between 13:30 – 15:00, between Lambeth and Vauxhall bridges. Those supporting Al Quds Day would be positioned on the Albert Embankment, while those opposing it will be placed on the Millbank side of the river. Those breaching conditions set for the protest, Adelekan said, “will mean facing arrest.”

The senior police commander also said that “officers on the ground will be briefed on placards, flags and chanting that will cross the line into hate crime or support for proscribed groups”, and indicated that as per previous statements by the Met police commissioner, “officers will act on chants of ‘Intifada’”. Adelekan said that while predictions on protest numbers could be incorrect, he believed that there could be 6,000 or more people attending in support of Al Quds day, with a similar number of counter protestors. He confirmed that 4 different groups – including Stop the Hate and the Lion Guard of Iran – had applied to the Met with regards to counter-protesting, with other organisations requesting to join. 1,000 officers at minimum would be involved in the policing operation, the Deputy Assistant Commissioner confirmed.

When asked by Jewish News whether police arrests for those supporting proscribed organisations would also apply to Palestine Action, with considerable ambiguity in recent week’s due to the Supreme Court’s judgement on the legality of the government’s proscription (with the government having committed to appealing the decision), Adelekan referred Jewish News to his previous answer regarding proscribed organisations. This appeared to indicate a difference in stance from a Met statement in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling last month, which noted that pending the outcome of any appeal Palestine Action remained proscribed and that expressing support for it was still a criminal offence, but said that “officers will continue to identify offences where support for Palestine Action is being expressed, but they will focus on gathering evidence of those offences and the people involved to provide opportunities for enforcement at a later date, rather than making arrests at the time.”

Adelekan repeatedly emphasised that the Met Police’s decision to ask the Home Secretary for a ban on the Al Quds Day march itself – something it had not done since 2012 – “does not set a precedent” and that the police had “not taken this decision lightly”. He described how it had been the assessment of the police that even with strict conditions in place, moving protests and counter-protests would have meant that “we could not prevent the two sides coming together…putting the public, protestors and our officers at risk”. He went on to say that a ban both on Al Quds related marches and counter-marches would now be in place for a month.