Watch the moment pro-Palestine protesters clash with police in London
Police chiefs have urged pro-Palestinian protesters to cancel their rally on Remembrance Day as the risk of violence and disorder in London is “growing”.
Scotland Yard said it is “not appropriate to hold any protests” this weekend as families pay their respects to Britain’s war dead who sacrificed their lives.
But the Met’s pleas were rejected by organisers and the demonstrations are set to go ahead – unless police chiefs ask Home Secretary Suella Braverman to intervene and ban the marches.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan said: “The risk of violence and disorder linked to breakaway groups is growing. This is of concern ahead of a significant and busy weekend in the capital.
“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.”
The Met warned violence has increased during protests in recent weeks, as the war between Israel and Hamas intensifies.
Officers said yobs “who have no interest” in the protests themselves are “often” behind the disorder.
Four police officers were attacked with fireworks during Saturday’s pro-Palestine protest after thousands of demonstrators gathered in Trafalgar Square.
Protesters also climbed on the square’s famous fountains as the group waved flags and banners. There were six arrests.
“Protect our monuments” groups have declared on social media they will be out this weekend to prevent pro-Palestinian protesters from scaling or desecrating memorials.
This has prompted fears of violent clashes between rival groups, with members of the “far-right” also believed to be planning to travel to the capital on Saturday.
If the protests do go ahead, police will throw a ring of steel around key sites in the capital.
Rick Prior, of the Metropolitan Police Federation, told the Daily Express: “It is going to be very difficult.
“I am concerned officers are going to get injured or the public who are not there demonstrating are going to get caught up in it.
“Whilst I understand the right to protest in a free democracy, there still has to be consideration to allow people to pay their respects in peace.
“I am concerned about the safety of officers and that they will be targeted, assaulted or have things thrown at them.
“I can only see it being far worse this weekend.
“This weekend is very solemn for everyone. Families up and down the country will be paying their respects.
“Situations where you have raw emotion are where you tend to have conflict.”
But Mr Prior stopped short of saying Scotland Yard chiefs should call for the protests to be banned.
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Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “Remembrance Day is a time for national reflection. It is a time when I know the whole country will come together to pay tribute to those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice to keep us safe.
“I want to make sure police have our absolute and total backing to clamp down on any acts of criminality, but also to ensure public order.”
The Metropolitan Police has said it would use “all powers and tactics” at its disposal to prevent disruption, including Section 13 of the Public Order Act 1986, which allows the banning of a procession when there is a risk of serious disorder.
Met Commander Karen Findlay said: “We fully appreciate the national significance of Armistice Day. Thousands of officers will be deployed in an extensive security operation and we will use all powers and tactics at our disposal to ensure that anyone intent on disrupting it will not succeed.”
Home Secretary Suella Braverman chaired a meeting on Monday morning to discuss police plans for protests in the next few months, including the potential risk of further escalation.
Attendees included senior Met leaders and representatives from the National Police Chiefs’ Council, Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Defence, according to the Home Office.
The Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall, which is usually attended by members of the royal family, will take place on Saturday, with a two-minute silence observed at 11am.
Remembrance Sunday events will take place at the Cenotaph in Westminster the following day.
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign, organisers of the planned demonstration, has pledged to avoid the Whitehall area where the Cenotaph is located.
The planned route will take them from Hyde Park – about a mile from the Cenotaph – to the US embassy in Vauxhall, south of the Thames.
Number 10 on Monday said that Mr Sunak does not believe all pro-Palestinian protests are hate marches, but said that there has been “some evidence of hateful behaviour”.
“We saw some evidence of hateful behaviour at the marches including arrests for inciting racial hatred, but obviously it remains the case rightly that people are able to, peacefully within the law, express their views,” the Prime Minister’s spokesman said.
Tory MPs urging Home Secretary Suella Braverman and Scotland Yard to either block the march taking place or use the new laws to stop them going anywhere near the Cenotaph.
Stoke North MP Jonathan Gullis and Bracknell MP James Sunderland, a former army colonel, put forward the Desecration of War Memorials Bill last year which eventually became law in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 (Section 50).
It means there is a legal duty to protect war memorials and that anyone found guilty of desecrating them can be sent to prison for up to 10 years.
Mr Gullis told Express.co.uk: “Every war memorial in every village, every town and every city across our country is sacred and serves to remind us of the immeasurable gratitude that we must afford to our armed forces, both past and present.
“They stand as a great, solemn, eternal reminder of our glorious dead. We cannot bring back those lives, or erase the grief of families and communities, but the least we can do is ensure that memorials are adequately protected, with the police enforcing the laws we passed to punish those who would deface or defile them.”
Mr Sunderland told Express.co.uk that ministers also must play their part in ensuring the protests do not go near the Cenotaph this weekend.
He said: “Due to our Desecration of War Memorials Bill, which is now in law, the Police have the powers to deal with any odious behaviour at the Cenotaph but the Government must also ensure that any protest goes nowhere near it in the first place.”
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