UK police step up efforts to ensure a massive pro-Palestinian march in London remains peaceful

LONDON (AP) — London police have stepped up efforts to ensure a pro-Palestinian march on Saturday remains peaceful following a week of political sparring over whether the demonstration should go ahead on the weekend Britain honors its war dead.

More than 2,000 officers, some called in from surrounding forces, will be on the streets of the capital this weekend to make to ensure marchers obey the law and to prevent potential confrontations with counter protesters, the Metropolitan Police Service said.

Police are also taking steps to reassure the Jewish community, which has been targeted by a surge in antisemitic incidents since Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7 and Israeli forces responded with strikes and sending troops into the Gaza Strip.

“We know the cumulative impact continued protest, increasing tensions, and rising hate crimes are having across London and the fear and anxiety our Jewish communities in particular are feeling,” the police said in a statement. “They have a right to feel safe in their city, knowing they can travel across London without feeling afraid of intimidation or harassment.”

The law enforcement operation comes after Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley resisted pressure from political leaders to ban the march over fears that it would interfere with Saturday’s Armistice Day events commemorating the end of World War I.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Home Secretary Suella Braverman have also expressed concern that the protests could spill over into Sunday, when King Charles III and the prime ministers of Commonwealth nations will lay wreaths at the national war memorial, known as the Cenotaph.

The commemoration events are “sacred” to Britain and should be a time for unity and “solemn reflection,” Sunak said in a statement.

“It is because of those who fought for this country and for the freedom we cherish that those who wish to protest can do so, but they must do so respectfully and peacefully,” Sunak said.

Organizers of Saturday’s march say they have taken steps to ensure it doesn’t conflict with Armistice Day events. The march is scheduled to begin at 12:30 p.m., more than an hour after the nation observes a two-minute silence, and it will follow a route from Hyde Park to the U.S. Embassy that doesn’t go near the Cenotaph.

Ben Jamal, director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said the marchers are calling end to the bombing of Gaza, and he criticized Braverman for characterizing the protesters as extremists who were going to desecrate the Cenotaph. The group has sponsored marches every Saturday in London since the war began.

“We said to the police we did not want to be anywhere near Whitehall on November the 11th; we did not want to disrupt preparations for the commemoration of remembrance on the Sunday,” Jamal told the BBC. “It is inconceivable, unless she doesn’t speak to the police, that the home secretary did not know that when she made her remarks.”

But police have gone further, declaring an exclusion zone around the Cenotaph and stationing a 24-hour guard around the memorial, amid concerns that some protesters may seek to deface it. Protesters have also been barred from the streets around the Israeli Embassy, near the start of the march, and some areas next to the U.S. Embassy.

Police also said they would take steps to prevent convoys of vehicles traveling to the march from driving through Jewish communities. In past years, convoys carrying people who waved flags and shouted antisemitic abuse caused “significant concern, fear and upset,” the force said.

Laurence Taylor, the Met’s deputy assistant commissioner, said police would likely have to use force to manage some of the confrontations that occur over the weekend.

“We are aware there will be counter-protests, as well as a lot of people who would ordinarily come to London to mark their respect on Armistice Day, on Remembrance Sunday,’' he said. “That means we need a large and robust policing plan in place.”