Tens of thousands of people are expected on Saturday in the streets of London for a pro-Palestinian march which will be held under heavy police surveillance on this weekend of commemorations of the armistice of the First World War.
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A little more than a month after the deadly attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas against Israel, which in response massively bombed the Gaza Strip, demonstrators, already present in large numbers the previous weekends in the capital, are demanding a cease-fire. fire.
The organization of this march against the advice of the government turned into a political crisis. Interior Minister Suella Braverman is now in the hot seat for questioning the neutrality of the police, who refused to ban the demonstration.
AFP
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has warned London police chief Mark Rowley that he will hold him “responsible” for any excesses, particularly if demonstrators disrupt Armistice Day commemorations, planned at the same time in the capital city.
“It is thanks to those who fought for this country and for the freedom we cherish that those who wish to demonstrate can do so, but they must do so in a respectful and peaceful manner,” Downing Street said in a statement on Friday. evening.
The route of the march, which must start at noon local time (and GMT), carefully avoids the Whitehall area, where the main ceremony is to take place, in the presence of the Prime Minister in particular.
AFP
“Tense and difficult”
The police reported on Friday the deployment of a massive device, with nearly 2,000 personnel mobilized to ensure both the security of the commemorations and the demonstration.
The head of operations within the London police, Laurence Taylor, who anticipates the presence of more than 100,000 demonstrators, stressed that this weekend would be “particularly tense and difficult”.
In particular, he expects counter-protesters, including hooligans, to come to the site, increasing the risk of confrontations.
An exclusion zone will be planned around the commemoration site and police will use enhanced powers to control protesters.
She has already arrested nearly 200 people during previous demonstrations organized – generally peacefully – since October 7, some suspected of acts of racial hatred.
“Message”
Interior Minister Suella Braverman called the protests “hate marches,” saying some of the organizers “have links to terrorist groups, including Hamas.”
This proponent of a very conservative line sparked a flood of criticism after publicly accusing the police of “double standards” in their management of the demonstrations, with some calling for her departure from the government.
Downing Street called on participants in the march to be “mindful of the message that this may send” and to be “sensitive and aware of the fear and anxiety that many people in the Jewish community, and also in the Muslim community, because of these events.”
Since the start of the conflict, which left thousands dead, the United Kingdom has experienced a surge in anti-Semitic and Islamophobic acts.
Two teenagers were charged on Friday for spray painting “Free Palestine” on a memorial to British soldiers killed in action in the town of Rochdale near Manchester (northern England).
According to a poll published by the conservative newspaper The Telegraph, 52% of Britons think the march should have been banned. They are 72% among conservative voters.