Hundreds of thousands of pro-Palestine demonstrators are expected to march through central London on Saturday in the UK’s first national demonstration since the UN’s international court of justice ordered Israel to ensure its forces do not commit acts of genocide in Gaza.
Organisers have said the Metropolitan police are expected to take a harsher approach compared with previous demonstrations, accusing the force of bowing to political pressure from the government to restrict the marches.
The Met announced on Friday evening that face coverings would be prohibited throughout the borough of Westminster from 10am on Saturday to 1am on Sunday. The measure requires the removal of any item that police believe is being worn to conceal a person’s identity. The force said this did not apply to religious face coverings.
Ben Jamal, the director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), said: “This is another example of the Met trying to create an intimidating environment and making people feel reticent or fearful about coming to a demonstration because it’s going to be a repressive environment. What’s astonishing is despite all of that, people are still turning up in such huge numbers.”
Chris Nineham, the vice-chair of Stop the War, said: “This is yet another example of the police attempting to criminalise Palestine protests and in the process chipping away at civil liberties. They are deliberately trying to raise tensions and to create the impression that people marching for peace and an end to a genocide are a threat to society. It’s an absolute disgrace.”
After having told organisers on Wednesday the Met would not allow the expected 300,000 demonstrators to end with a rally on Whitehall, where marches have regularly ended, the force made a U-turn on Thursday and said the march could end near Downing Street.
A request for two end rallies, including one in Trafalgar Square, was denied, however, with the Met saying they would have hundreds of officers on duty but fewer resources than on previous march days to police the protests. Jamal said he was concerned this could make the protest less safe, but the march stewards would seek to manage the crowds.
The march is scheduled to begin at the BBC’s headquarters on Portland Place at midday.
In a statement, the force said: “The vast majority of those joining protests have done so in a lawful and peaceful way but a minority have broken the law and arrests have been made.”
Last Friday, the international court of justice ordered Israel to ensure its forces did not commit acts of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. In an interim judgment, the president of the court, Joan Donoghue, said Israel must “take all measures within its power” to prevent acts that fall within the scope of the genocide convention and must ensure “with immediate effect” that its forces do not commit any of the acts covered by the convention.
Earlier this month, the PSC organised a march of hundreds of thousands of people through central London. Little Amal, a 4-metre puppet of a Syrian child refugee, accompanied protesters as they marched towards Parliament Square. The following weekend, hundreds joined a multi-faith peace march in solidarity with people affected by the conflict.
The Gaza health ministry says at least 27,131 Palestinians have been killed and 66,287 have been injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since the 7 October Hamas attack on Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and about 250 abducted. Satellite images analysed by the United Nations Satellite Centre show that 30% of Gaza Strip’s buildings have been destroyed or damaged. Unicef estimated on Friday that 170,000 children in Gaza were unaccompanied or had been separated from their families.
This will be the eighth National March for Palestine organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign since October.