London pro-Palestine march will take place, despite police calls for postponement and inflammatory comments by Braverman

Pro-Palestine activists in the UK will go ahead with a march in London on Saturday, despite calls by the Metropolitan Police to postpone the demonstration, which is expected to be the largest since the start of the war on Gaza.

The protest will coincide with Remembrance Day, when the UK remembers its World War I dead, with police urging activists to reconsider Saturday's demonstration.  

Pro-Palestine protests have taken place in London every Saturday since 7 October, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza where Israeli attacks have killed over 10,000 people.

“Our message to organisers is clear: Please, we ask you to urgently reconsider. It is not appropriate to hold any protests in London this weekend," said Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan.

The UK's right-wing Home Secretary Suella Braverman endorsed the police statement while making inflammatory comments about the protesters, calling them "hate marchers" and accusing them of "thuggish intimidation and extremism". 

I welcome this statement from the Met Police. The hate marchers need to understand that decent British people have had enough of these displays of thuggish intimidation and extremism. https://t.co/yjJv8xqDZF

— Suella Braverman MP (@SuellaBraverman) November 6, 2023

The minister's comments have been widely condemned including by the Conservative Party's Baroness Warsi, who said Braverman is becoming "dangerous and divisive".

Kristyan Benedict of Amnesty International tweeted: "At a time when calm heads are needed to defuse tensions and focus minds on ending the carnage in Gaza we have this inflammatory nonsense. What an embarrassment."

The police said they fear that even if the main protest is diverted away from the remembrance commemorations, "breakaway groups" could cause "violence and disorder".

UK activists, including the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), expressed deep concern at the statement by the Metropolitan Police.

The PSC said that a meeting has been held regarding the 11 November protest with the route planned for Marble Arch to the US Embassy, away from the centre of London and Whitehall, where Armistice Day commemorations are usually held.

"At that meeting, the Police made clear, as reaffirmed in their statement, that the marches we had organised had been overwhelmingly peaceful with low levels of arrest," the PSC said in a statement.

At a time when calm heads are needed to defuse tensions and focus minds on ending the carnage in Gaza we have this inflammatory nonsense. What an embarrassment. https://t.co/HGleiSprDD

— kristyan benedict (@KreaseChan) November 6, 2023

"They  raised a concern about the possibility of breakaway groups leaving the march but were not able to provide any evidence as to why this risk would be increased on Saturday, 11th November."

The PSC pointed to “the political pressure being placed on the police by the Government and right-wing political groups” and reiterated their intent to “withstand that pressure and act to uphold democratic freedoms, including the right to protest".

Hundreds of thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters have marched in central London for three consecutive weekends calling for an immediate ceasefire in Israel's deadly and indiscriminate war on the besieged Gaza Strip.