Our demonstration on Saturday will be a huge and peaceful expression of majority opinion in this country
The organisers of this Saturday’s march for Palestine and against the far-right would like to correct various untruths in the Metropolitan police’s briefing.
The suggestion that our march poses a threat comparable to that of Stephen Yaxley Lennon’s (aka Tommy Robinson’s) far-right mobilisation is ridiculous. This wouldn’t be repeated by a responsible public institution.
As the police know, our march will be a peaceful protest against the catastrophe inflicted on the Palestinian people since 1948. Lennon is a known fascist, Islamophobe and antisemite who has organised scores of violent, racist protests and has been jailed for assault.
The police say that there are abnormal levels of criminality on our marches. Why then do they also tell us that our marches are overwhelmingly peaceful and orderly? There are fewer arrests per person on our marches than at the average Glastonbury festival.
Last time fascists gathered in London on the same day as one of our marches there were a handful of arrests and no charges amongst our 800,000 marchers and 100 arrests in Whitehall as a group of far-right thugs rioted against the police with Yaxley Lennon in attendance.
On 28 March, we were part of mobilising half a million people for a peaceful unity march against the far right – the biggest ever anti-racist march in British history.
The Met’s statement repeats the implication that the Palestine movement aims to march past synagogues. The police know this is not true and that such claims can only create tension and fuel conflict.
Thousands of Jewish people march with us. Our argument is with the Israeli government’s genocide against the Palestinian people and our own government’s support for it.
We ask for corrections to these claims and we repeat our dismay at the Met’s decision to allow a far-right march to proceed through the political centre of London on Nakba day.
We urge the police to maintain their commitment to a comprehensive ‘sterile’ zone around Trafalgar Square and Cockspur Street.
Our demonstration on Saturday will be a huge and peaceful expression of majority opinion in this country; against racism and for peace and justice in the Middle East.
