The Metropolitan Police has put out a ‘news story‘ about the Palestine coalition’s #Nakba78 and Unite against the far right march this Saturday. Its contents have been widely reported by the media, but repeats claims already subject to a formal complaint against the Met commissioner Sir Mark Rowley by the coalition.
These include that the Met has changed the route on our national marches to protect Jewish communities because of the organiser’s “persistent attempts” to assemble near, march past or finish near synagogues.
This is a lie – we have never sought to assemble near or march past synagogues – and both the London Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime and Mark Rowley are in receipt of a legal letter demanding this defamatory claim be retracted.
The article also announces new conditions put on our demo, despite the several meetings held with the Met where these could have been discussed. They include first time conditions placed on speakers that they don’t break the law by using unlawful extremism or hate speech, and that both the speakers and the organisers will face consequences if that happens.
Certain slogans and phrases have been referred to in relation to the Palestine march, none of which have been uttered by a speaker at a Palestine coalition rally.
We trust that if the Unite the Kingdom (UtK) rally, organised by far right Tommy Robinson, sees the tearing up of Palestine flags on stage, as happened at the last one, that will be considered hate speech.
And, while the Met has acknowledged the violence during the UtK march last September, including attacks on police officers, along with the fear caused to Muslim and other ethnic minority groups, we totally reject the parallel it is seeking to draw with the Palestine marches.
So finally, we call on everyone who believes in a Free Palestine and is united with us in opposing the hatred of the far right to join us and our coalition partners on Saturday to March for Palestine and Unite Against the Far Right.
Source: X