MPs 'alarmed' after Met Police blocks plans for Pro-Palestine march near BBC
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A bitter row has broken out over plans for a large Pro-Palestine march to take place outside the BBC headquarters on Saturday. Several MPs have been left “alarmed” by the Met Police’s attempts to prevent a Pro-Palestine march from protesting near the BBC, but the force has doubled down and insisted it is trying to avoid “serious disruption” to a nearby synagogue.
A motion tabled by Labour veteran John McDonnell, and signed by at least six London MPs, has rejected the force’s claims and called for “repressive restrictions” to be lifted to allow the march to take place. But the force has insisted it is not banning a demonstration and has said it has asked protesters to consider marching on another day of the week so it does not disrupt Shabbat services.
Last week the Met Police blocked plans for the Pro-Palestine march and used its powers under the Public Order Act to prevent the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) from gathering outside Broadcasting House in Portland Place ahead of a march to Whitehall.
Conditions enforced by the police will now prevent protesters from gathering in the busy street and the surrounding area. But the row between the PSC and Met Police deepened on Monday as the police said that the protest group had revealed a new route for the march which was “a reversal of the original one that had been advertised”.
Meanwhile, the Campaign Against Antisemitism has told the Met it has “the full support” of the Jewish community for “finally drawing a line in the sand” after regular Pro-Palestine protests in central London, which it says has made the city centre a no-go zone.
