Police obstruction of arrangements for 15 March Gaza demo
We should be publicising the Jewish Bloc assembly details for next Saturday’s march by now but the Police are refusing to agree any route. We are used to the Met being difficult but they have never been this obstructive before. We can only assume that by their own decision or in response to outside pressure they are manoeuvring to deter people from attending. This statement from the march organisers describes their frustrating negotiations with the police.
This march is important to make public our anger at the continual Israeli assaults on Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank in breach of the ceasefire agreement and international law; and the failure of the UK Government to apply any pressure at all on Israel to get them to comply. We encourage all our supporters not to be put off and to keep their eyes open for the Jewish Bloc assembly details. We will publicise them on all our social media channels as soon as we know the route.
This disruption is part of a disturbing and intensifying pattern of suppression of opposition to government policies, not just on Gaza and Palestine but also on climate change and other important issues.
MC
Statement from the Palestine Coalition that organises the London marches on police obstruction
We are experiencing further disruption from the Met Police in our planning of the next National demonstration on March 15th.
We informed the Police in writing of our proposed route on Feb 18th and indicated we wished to announce by Feb 25th. We were informed by the Gold Commander that he would expect to complete all assessments to allow us to announce by February 28th. He raised concerns which he said had been submitted by pro-Israel groups including the Board of Deputies, Community Security Trust and the Jewish Leadership Council.
Leaders of the Jewish Bloc have also sought a face-to-face meeting with the Police which to date has still not been agreed.
We are now in a position – 8 days before the march – where the Police are refusing to tell us what conditions they may impose to render illegal any route we announce. We have made clear the impact of this upon those seeking to attend, including a disabled bloc which maps its own accessibility route once it knows the main route, but needs time to do this and advertise it, and likewise for a bloc of parents with young children. We also made clear that for members of the Muslim community knowledge of the end and pick up times are particularly important during Ramadan so they can make plans to break their fast. The Gold Commander admitted to us he had not discussed any of these issues with groups representing the Muslim community.
It seems clear that the Police are delaying a decision as long as possible to impact upon our ability to challenge any conditions imposed. Likewise, it is difficult to draw any other conclusion than that they are hoping to diminish numbers attending by creating obstacles to people planning travel. As organisers, we will continue to use all levers to prevent this stifling of the right to protest.
We will provide further update once it is available. We thank all of our allies including in Parliament who have been active in communicating their concerns to all relevant authorities. Our best response to these attempts to silence us are to continue to refuse to be silenced. As Netanyahu, supported by Trump, threatens to continue the genocide in Gaza and ethnically cleanses over 40,000 Palestinians in the West Bank, we will not be distracted from why we are protesting. Please join us in London on March 15th. In our thousands and our millions, we are all Palestinians.
I know that London is important, I come down from North Yorkshire to march with you. The march in support of Palestinians is global could you not march in other British cities? We’re a small island and we would all warmly welcome you.
This must most certainly not put people off protesting.
Things are ramping up now and we have to get stronger and bigger.
We will not be stopped.
I wish I could join you but I am unable. I support you all 100 fold.
I deduce that the extra obstructive attitude of the Metropolitan Police is on the orders of the false Labour, fully Zionist, worse than useless government
Strategy will need to change. Demonstrations are being blocked. so we have to think of other peaceful ways of showwing how we disagree with the terrible slaughter that is happening not just in Gaza but also the west bank, Lebanon and Syria by the Zionist murdering regime and it’s supporters.