PM claims Cenotaph could be ‘desecrated’, but Met and
organisers say anti-war rally will avoid Whitehall
Ben Quinn
and Vikram Dodd
Fri 3 Nov
2023 16.54 GMT
Rishi Sunak
has described pro-Palestinian protests planned for London on Armistice Day as
“provocative and disrespectful”.
The prime
minister also claimed that there was a “clear and present risk that the
Cenotaph and other war memorials could be desecrated” on a day when thousands
of marchers were due to take to the streets.
His
intervention came after the security minister, Tom Tugendhat, said the planned
demonstration by the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign (PSC) on Saturday 11
November in central London was “a matter of great concern” to him and that he
had written to police about it.
The march
is taking place on Armistice Day, when events will include a two-minute silence
commemorating Britain’s war dead on the 105th anniversary of the end of the
first world war. The PSC said there are no plans to march near Whitehall or the
Cenotaph on Remembrance weekend.
A Met
police commander, Karen Findlay, an expert in public order and policing large
events, said the march’s organisers had told police they had no intention of
causing disruption to Remembrance events and were cooperating with officers.
“They have
already expressed that they have no intention to disrupt Remembrance events and
are working with us to really establish a route, assembly points, etc, which
will not factor within what I would call the Remembrance footprint,” she told a
press briefing.
Findlay
said police would use retrospective facial recognition to identify people at
the march through London on Saturday and vowed to intervene quickly and enter
crowds if necessary to pluck out suspects.
She denied
that the tougher police tactics were a result of political pressure from
government ministers and media supporters, telling a press briefing: “No, we
are retaining our operational independence. We are reviewing our policing
approach and it’s right that that is responsive, taking into account what has
occurred.”
Sunak had
earlier used the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, to say he had asked
the home secretary to support the police “in doing everything necessary” to
protect the sanctity of Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday.
He said:
“To plan protests on Armistice Day is provocative and disrespectful, and there
is a clear and present risk that the Cenotaph and other war memorials could be
desecrated, something that would be an affront to the British public and the
values we stand for..
“The right
to remember, in peace and dignity, those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice
for those freedoms must be protected.”
Tugendhat,
who is a military veteran, told Times Radio on Friday: “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.
“That is
why I have written to the mayor of London, and to Westminster council, and to
the Metropolitan police asking them to look very carefully at the powers that
they have and to consider what options they have available, because personally
I don’t think this is an appropriate moment for a protest.”
London’s
mayor, Sadiq Khan, accused Tugendhat of “posturing”, saying: “If this security
minister knew his brief, he would know the only person in the country that can
ban marches is the home secretary – his colleague in cabinet.”
Khan told
the PA Media news agency it was “incredibly important” that demonstrators
understood the importance of Remembrance events, adding that Scotland Yard was
speaking to protest organisers to “make sure they stay away from the Cenotaph”.
The PSC – which pledged to avoid the area where the Cenotaph is located – said
Sunak’s comments were “deeply irresponsible” and that they encouraged calls
from far-right activists for action to stop the protests.
Ben Jamal,
the director of the PSC, said: “Given the wider context of the previous
statements by the home secretary seeking to demonise all of those marching in
support of the rights of the Palestinian people, it is clear that these
comments are in reality motivated by a desire to suppress widespread public
support for an end to Israel’s bombardment of the people of Gaza.
“Each of
the protests we have called have been peaceful, orderly, and attended by
hundreds of thousands of demonstrators from a diverse cross-section of British
society.”
Sunak was
also criticised by Yasmine Ahmed, the UK director of Human Rights Watch, who
said: “This is a deplorable attempt by the British government to suggest that
compassion for the plight of Palestinians is somehow at odds with remembering
the sacrifices of British service people.”
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