Met police accused of favouring Tommy Robinson far-right rally over Palestine march | Metropolitan police
Annie Lennox and Miriam Margolyes are among the artists who have accused the Metropolitan police of giving preferential treatment to a far-right demonstration led by Tommy Robinson over a pro-Palestinian protest in London the same day.
The pro-Palestinian movement’s preferred route through central London was rejected by the Met for the annual commemoration of the Nakba, the mass deportation of Palestinians; The “Unite the Kingdom” demonstration will be held on the same date in Kingsway, Strand, Trafalgar Square, Whitehall and Parliament Square. Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, shared the following on X: “London is ours on May 16.”
One open letter The statement that the Met “should not support the far right against Palestine” was signed by actors Samuel West and Khalid Abdalla, musicians Billy Bragg and Nadine Shah, as well as MPs, academics, lawyers, union and civil society leaders. The Met said the decision was based on the relative scale of the demonstrations.
Billy Howle, who starred in TV series The Perfect Double and The Serpent and also signed the letter, said: “The shocking decision of the police to favor a far-right demonstration and block this important annual commemoration from the political center of London will send shivers down the spines of every person of conscience. The decision must be overturned.”
The letter states that the pro-Palestinian movement notified the force on December 18 of its intention to march on the Saturday closest to Nakba Day, in line with a tradition dating back more than a decade, but the Met “instead left London’s political center to a hate march called by racist thug ‘Tommy Robinson’.” He calls on the powers that be to “immediately reverse this shameful decision.”
The route of the Nakba march has not yet been finalized, as organizers are concerned about the risks posed to participants by the far-right, who have previously stated in the letter that they have used “verbal and physical violence against the movement and the police”.
The Met’s decisions regarding the two marches come amid allegations of increased repression of Palestinian solidarity marches. Routes and timings have previously been restricted, and in December the Met and Manchester police said they would arrest anyone who said the words “globalise the intifada” or held a banner with the phrase, citing fear in Jewish communities. Intifada means uprising or resistance, and pro-Palestinian figures deny it is a call for violence.
On Thursday, more than 30 MPs, led by Labour’s Andy McDonald and Kim Johnson, who signed the letter to the Met, tabled a motion to reject the government’s proposal to require police to take into account the “cumulative impact” of repeated protests in the same area (in response to pro-Palestinian demonstrations) when imposing conditions.
A Met spokesman said decisions about demonstrations were based on safety and security, not political affiliations. They said the far-right event could “reasonably be anticipated, given the number of attendees at the recent event organized by the same group”, that it would attract “very significant crowds”, adding: “There are only a limited number of routes in central London that can be used to safely accommodate such a crowd; Whitehall is the most suitable.”
They said the force would be open to meeting with organizers of the Nakba Day protest to agree on an alternative location.
Separately, the Met said on Friday that “criminal offenses” were expected at the Defend Our Juries demonstration in central London’s Trafalgar Square on Saturday, opposing the ban on Palestine Action.
The ban was ruled unlawful by the high court in February, prompting the Met to say it would stop arresting people allegedly supporting the direct action group. However, last month, it was announced that arrests would continue on condition that the ban continues until the government appeals the court decision.
