In the United Kingdom, Scotland Yard opposes the ban on a pro-Palestinian demonstration requested by the government

2023-11-09 21:01:09
During a demonstration in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, in London, November 4, 2023. TOBY MELVILLE / REUTERS

The London demonstration on Saturday November 11 in support of Palestine should finally take place. After ten days of intense controversy, the Metropolitan Police, the police of Greater London (Scotland Yard), did not give in. Its chief commissioner, Mark Rowley, a specialist in anti-terrorism, refused to ban it despite pressure from the Conservative government, which judged that its concomitance with “Remembrance Sunday”, the commemoration of the armistice of the First World War, was “disrespectful”.

This unprecedented standoff between the police and the executive power says a lot about the independence of the police forces in the United Kingdom and their liberal approach towards demonstrations, but also about the temptations of political exploitation of the Israeli-Israeli conflict. Palestinian.

It all started with a provocative statement from Suella Braverman, the interior minister, who has made a specialty of incendiary remarks to attract media attention, her ambition to one day replace Rishi Sunak as leader of the Conservative Party no longer causing much doubt at Westminster. Monday October 30, this politician married to a British man of Jewish faith described “hate marches” the pro-Palestine demonstrations having taken place every Saturday in London since the massacre perpetrated on October 7 by Hamas in Israel. Wednesday November 8, she insisted in the columns of Timesaccusing the police of being more lax with left-wing than right-wing protests.

Peaceful demonstrations

Bringing together up to 100,000 people on October 21 and tens of thousands on October 28, the London marches gave rise to 188 arrests according to the police, but took place mainly peacefully, with demonstrators mainly brandishing signs. « Free Palestine » or claimant ” a ceasefire “. Among those who were arrested on suspicion of advocating hatred, two women who wore stickers bearing the image of paragliders used by Hamas to infiltrate Israel, or carriers of black flags calling for jihad. The police kept a low profile, deploying mounted officers only in places most likely to see tensions emerge: near Downing Street.

The organizers of the demonstrations, including PSC (Palestine Solidarity Campaign), played along, avoiding passing under the windows of the Israeli embassy or planting a marquee in front of the Cenotaph, the monument to the dead of the two world wars on Whitehall , as during the demonstration of October 14.

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