The Metropolitan Police set a new route for a London anti-Israel protest to ensure that it would not be near a synagogue on Saturday, the MET announced on Wednesday.
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) protest march to the British Broadcasting Corporation will be required to assemble at Russell Square just after noon and will finish by 16:30 at Whitehall.
The Met imposed the new conditions after restricting an area around the synagogue last Thursday, but police said a reversed route proposed by PSC risked having the same impact as their previous plan -- it would form close to a local synagogue when Jewish congregants would be attending shabbat services.
Commander Adam Slonecki said in a statement that suggestions of reversing the PSC march route to avoid disrupting synagogue morning services were incorrect, as the synagogue was in use throughout the day and didn't take into account other services.
"The onus should not be on others to change their behavior, such as leaving by a specific time, in order to accommodate the needs of protest groups, " said Slonecki.
The Met said that there would be heavy police presence in the area to ensure that the old route would not be followed.
“I would also appeal to those with influence, including protest organisers or those who lead other campaign groups or blocs, to ensure that any previous plans are not being promoted and to make every effort to ensure those attending are aware of the conditions now in place," said Slonecki. “Anyone breaching the conditions, or inciting others to do so, is committing an offence. The consequences for doing so include arrest. We don’t want to have to arrest people but we have the resources to do so, including at scale, if we need to.”
Yet Stop the War Coalition, one of the protest marchers, said that the march would assemble at Whitehall at noon. PSC said in a Wednesday statement that it was not organizing any protest at Russell Square, and the Met was attempting to "frustrate our march" by "spreading disinformation in an attempt to create chaos on the day."
PSC asserted last Wednesday that the police were attempting to prevent the march against the BBC, which they said deserved criticism for its supposed pro-Israel coverage of the Israel-Hamas war.
Slonecki denied that this was the case, saying that they had offered to work with PSC for alternative days of the week for the protest and approached PSC regularly for discussions. The Board of Deputies of British Jews, the Jewish Leadership Council, and Community Security Trust said in a joint Tuesday statement that they were not asking for the protest to be banned, but there were other routes and days available for a march that would not bring demonstrators within the vicinity of the synagogue on shabbat.
Jewish community response
The Jewish community, including Chief British Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis, had issued criticism of the MET and expressed concern that the protesters could threaten the synagogue and worshippers. Board vice security vice president welcomed the MET's announcement of a new route on Wednesday.
Stop the War responded to the announcement of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas on Thursday, assuring that the British pro-Palestinian movement would not go away to and would continue to demand "an end to the occupation, an end to the arming of Israel and for the genocide enablers in our government to be held to account."
Now more than ever we must demand the dismantling of the apartheid state, of free movement of Palestinians across Palestine48 [mandatory Palestine territory], of equal rights in all aspects of life for Palestinians and for the right of return of Palestinian refugees," said the coalition.
Islington MP Jeremy Corbyn said on X Wednesday that thousands would march at the Saturday protest to "defend the right to demonstrate against apartheid and genocide."
Corbyn's Peace and Justice Project responded to the hostage deal by stating that it would continue to work to hold those responsible for an alleged genocide and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
"After 15 months of Israeli brutality following the events of 7 October 2023, this moment must be the beginning of a process which ends the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, recognizes the State of Palestine and brings those response for the genocide in Gaza to justice," said the NGO.