Anti-genocide groups write to Rowley demanding answers over weaponisation of policing

Abuse, violence and deceit around 18 January march challenged by human rights groups

A coalition of pro-Palestine organisations and activists has written to Met Police chief Mark Rowley to demand urgent answers over the Metropolitan Police’s abuse of the national demonstration for Palestine in London on 18 January.

Police made a total of 77 arrests – some of them violently – at the demo after allowing protesters through to lay wreaths in Trafalgar Square in memory of children murdered during Israel’s slaughter in Gaza, and then ‘kettling’ them to prevent them leaving. Rowley boasted to a pro-Israel pressure group that he had placed unprecedented restrictions on the pro-Palestine protest – a show of force that has raised grave concerns about abuse of process and the freedom to protest enshrined in human rights law.

These heavy-handed tactics followed the last-minute imposition of restrictions on the agreed route of the march to appease pro-Israel groups, blocking marchers from reaching the BBC headquarters to protest against its bias – supposedly because of concerns for the safety of Jews attending a synagogue a considerable distance from the route.

In their letter, the ‘Convivencia Alliance’ groups say that there was no valid reason for this restriction – synagogue prayer and related activities are normally concluded before mid-day and, most significantly, there have been no recorded incidents of attacks on any synagogue close to the route of previous national Palestine demonstrations in London. On the contrary, Jewish groups have been front and centre of the protests against Israel’s genocide.

The Met’s own statistics show a very low level of arrests at previous demonstrations – and any racism or disruption has been on the part of pro-Israel counter-demonstrators. Despite this, the force imposed unnecessary and arbitrary measures on the eighteenth, blocking access to tens of thousands who were trying to reach the previously agreed location for the speakers’ stage. The letter condemns the attempted intimidation of the ‘shock tactic’ used:

The shock tactic used of arresting demonstrators for actions that clearly do not cross the criminal threshold appears to be designed to intimidate demonstrators and restrict the right to lawful protest.

The signatories, who include the Islamic Human Rights Commission, Jewish Voice for Labour, Spinwatch and Black Lives Matter Coalition, have demanded that police disclose details of the operational instructions and procedures in place at the demonstration, including what representations were made by pro-Israel groups. They also demand to know what directives, if any, were given by the Home Secretary and/or the Mayor of London.

In a reference to Rowley’s boast to a Zionist gathering, the letter says that:

To prioritise its partisan concerns about criticism of Israel over the rights and freedoms of peaceful demonstrators, including many anti-Zionist Jewish organisations, is a troubling departure from impartial policing.

The letter adds to growing pressure on the Metropolitan police, whose claims of force and disorder by protesters have been thoroughly discredited by video evidence, over its handling of the pro-Palestine protest. Leaders of some trade unions became the latest group to write Yvette Cooper, demanding an independent inquiry into “repressive and heavy-handed policing”.

The letter followed others by legal experts, MPs and peers, and the British Palestinian Committee, making similar demands and calling for a review of the new legislation limiting protest that was introduced by the Conservative government. The full letter can be viewed below:

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