British Security Minister Tom Tugendhat has asked the Metropolitan Police (Met) and London Mayor Sadiq Khan to halt any pro-Palestine protests from taking place in central London on Remembrance Day weekend (November 11-12), saying that the rallies would not be "acceptable" and were "a matter of great concern" to him.
Armistice Day or Remembrance Day are the UK's names for the November 11 commemorations, which is equivalent to the US Veterans Day - with both sides of the pond remembering the end of the First World War on November 11, 1918. By tradition, the UK commemorates the anniversary on the second Sunday of November.
"Let's be clear, the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign has said that they want to march on Remembrance Day or Remembrance Sunday - and that is a matter of great concern to me," Tugendhat told the BBC. "It is a moment where we remember those we lost, and I think for the whole country the Cenotaph is sacred ground and the idea that on a day like Remembrance Day you would have a protest going past it, I don't think that is acceptable."
However, The Standard quoted Khan saying that Tugendhat, a military veteran, of "playing politics" as the mayor does not have the power to stop the protest.
The Public Order Act 1986 allows the British Home Secretary to ban protests from certain areas if the Met believes there is a disorder risk. So far, Suella Braverman has called the pro-Palestine rallies "hate marches," claiming that they featured "a large number of bad actors" behaving in an "utterly odious" manner. She also suggested she wanted the Met to do more to crack down on antisemitism.
People protest in support of Palestine on October 14, 2023 in London, United Kingdom. Groups supporting Palestine protest at Israel's retaliation to Hamas attacks across the UK this weekend despite the Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, suggesting that waving Palestinian flags and using popular pro-Palestine slogans could be illegal under the Public Order Act in a letter she sent to police chiefs in England and Wales on Tuesday.
Pro-Palestine Protesters Say They Will Avoid Whitehall
The remarks were made after tens of thousands of demonstrations calling for an immediate ceasefire in Israel's attacks on Gaza were planned to take to the streets of London on Armistice Day.
Organizers of the protests have pledged to avoid the Whitehall area, where the Cenotaph war memorial was located. Every year, the British royal family presides over the London Remembrance Sunday commemoration service in the Whitehall Cenotaph.
"We will be holding a protest elsewhere in London," Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) director Ben Jamal said.
"We definitely will not be at the Cenotaph," added Friends of Al-Aqsa (FOA) spokesperson Ismail Patel. "We understand the sensitivity of the date."
No Protests Planned for Remembrance Sunday, Met Assures Londoners
While the Met stated that there was an expected demonstration on Armistice Day, which this year fell on a Saturday, they said the protesters have not indicated plans to march on the Sunday after.
When pressed by the London Assembly if he could guarantee a plan to keep events separate in case of unplanned marches in Whitehall, Met commissioner Mark Rowley promised that his officers would "ensure" any demonstrations - whether planned or spontaneous - would not interfere with Remembrance weekend events, The Independent reported.
"It's a major security event from a policing perspective," he added. "It's a national moment of reflection and remembrance."
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