Pro-Palestinian London Rally To Go Ahead Despite Govt Concerns
London, (APP – UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News – 9th Nov, 2023) A pro-Palestinian rally looks set to take place in London on Saturday, despite government concerns that it could clash with the solemn annual commemorations for Britain’s military war dead.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government had put pressure on the Metropolitan Police to ban the protest in the British capital.
Sunak met with Scotland Yard chief Mark Rowley to secure assurances that Armistice Day memorial services would not be disrupted and that the public would be safe from disorder.
“It’s welcome that the police have confirmed that the march will be away from the Cenotaph (war memorial) and they will ensure that the timings do not conflict with any Remembrance events,” Sunak said afterwards.
But he warned that “there remains the risk of those who seek to divide society using this weekend as a platform to do so”.
Sunak earlier said he would hold the Metropolitan Police commissioner “accountable” for his decision to allow the demonstration against the Israel-Hamas war to go ahead.
Tens of thousands of people are expected to take to the streets of London to demand a ceasefire in the month-old conflict.
The Conservative leader says a march on Armistice Day would be “provocative and disrespectful” but organisers have resisted his pleas and those from the Met Police to postpone the demonstration.
Rowley has said the rally, organised by the Stop the War Coalition, does not meet the threshold for requesting a government order to stop it going ahead.
Such a ban was “incredibly rare” and a “last resort” where there is a serious threat of disorder, he said.
“The events taking place this weekend are of great significance and importance to our nation,” he added in a statement.
“We will do everything in our power to ensure they pass without disruption.”
Sunak said the protest “offends our heartfelt gratitude to the memory of those who gave so much so that we may live in freedom and peace today.
“But part of that freedom is the right to peacefully protest,” he added.
