November 3rd 2023.
The Metropolitan Police have pledged to use all their powers to ensure that the annual Remembrance Day and Remembrance Sunday commemorations in London will not be disrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators are expected to take part in a march on Armistice Day, Saturday November 11, to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. There are fears that this march could disturb the traditional two-minute silence, as well as the Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall.
In order to prevent any disruption, the Met will be deploying officers across the capital that weekend as part of a ‘significant policing and security operation’. The Met have confirmed that no march is planned for Remembrance Sunday, November 12, but that they expect a significant demonstration on Saturday.
The organisers of the march have stated that they intend to avoid the Whitehall area, where the Cenotaph war memorial is located, as it is the focus of national remembrance events. The Met have made clear that they view this weekend as having a ‘huge national significance’, and that they will use all available powers to stop anyone intent on disrupting it.
The Cenotaph service is attended by members of the Royal Family, senior politicians, and veterans each year, and is a solemn tribute to those who have lost their lives in conflict. Armistice Day, which falls on November 11, is the anniversary of the end of the First World War, and is also known as Remembrance Day.
Friends of Al-Aqsa are organising a bus from Leicester to London for the march, and estimate that hundreds of thousands of people could attend the demonstration. Ismail Patel, a spokesman for FOA, has stated that they ‘definitely will not be at the Cenotaph’, as they understand the sensitivity of the date.
Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has expressed his ‘deep concern’ about the effect of protests on local policing. He has stated that since October 7, successive weekend protests in central London have required 1,000, 1,500, and 2,000 officers respectively. So far, around 70 arrests have been made, and almost 100 more for hate crimes.
On November 4, the Stop the War coalition are calling for a nationwide ‘Day of Action for Palestine’ with a rally in London’s Trafalgar Square. Meanwhile, Stand Up to Racism and Extinction Rebellion London are organising a ‘Stop Braverman, Stop the Hate’ march outside the Home Office. This is in response to Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s speech at the Conservative party conference last month, which drew criticism for warnings of a ‘hurricane’ of mass migration.
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