Pro-Palestine march: Police say they will ‘likely have to use force’ as protesters banned from Cenotaph

The Metropolitan Police is doing “everything” in its power to ensure Jewish Londoners feel safe during Saturday’s pro-Palestine protest.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor said: “We’ve got a policing operation that is double the size of the first weekend. We’ve got nearly 1,850 officers working on Saturday, 1,350 working on Sunday.

“I’ve used all of the powers that are available to me to use over the weekend to limit the impact, to manage the impact, whilst people go about their lawful business and their right to protest.

“So for the Jewish communities in particular, we are engaged, we are absolutely aware of the fear and concerns and we are doing everything in our power to ensure that they are safe, and they must feel safe.

“But if people are frightened, or see things that they’re frightened of, they must report it to us so we can respond.”

It is unacceptable for Suella Braverman “to publicly attempt to tamper with the operational independence of policing”, the Police Federation has warned.

Steve Hartshorn, national chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, which represents rank and file officers, said operational policing decisions must remain independent of political interference.

“It is entirely reasonable that the home secretary might raise concerns with senior police leaders in private, it is unacceptable to publicly attempt to tamper with the operational independence of policing,” he said.

“Policing must be free of politics. Operational independence is a key pillar of UK policing and must be respected. Policing does not comment on political manoeuvrings, and we expect to be able to carry out our duties without political interference.”

Counter protesters to the pro-Palestinian march in London on Saturday will be allowed into the area around the Cenotaph, the Metropolitan Police has said.

Large numbers of counter protesters are expected in the capital in response to the decision to hold the march on Armistice Day. An exclusion zone will be put in place covering Whitehall and the Cenotaph to prevent demonstrators on the march from entering the locations.

Speaking at a media briefing, deputy assistant commissioner Laurence Taylor said the Met had information that “large numbers of counter protesters will be coming to London with a view to confronting those taking place in the main march”.

Asked why counter protesters would be allowed around the monument, Mr Taylor said the force “don’t anticipate any disorder will come from that group” individually.

Metropolitan Police officers will likely have to use force that “might look messy” at the pro-Palestinian march in London on Saturday, deputy assistant commissioner Laurence Taylor has said.

Speaking at a media briefing, he said: “The objective of policing is to use the least intrusive force possible to achieve an end.

“There will be times this weekend where you see pockets of confrontation, despite the conditions and everything I’ve put in place to manage that.

“You will see police intervention, and I hope we don’t but I think it’s likely you will see police having to use force to manage some of the situations that we have to deal with, and at times that might look messy.

“That doesn’t equate to serious disorder or to us losing control, but it does mean that we are taking robust, rapid and agile action to deal with what we are dealing with.”

Mr Taylor did confirm the march organisers, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, had changed their original route to avoid the ‘Remembrance footprint’ within Whitehall.

Intense international negotiations are taking place involving diplomats, intelligence services and specialist security companies in attempts to free hostages being held in Gaza, with the most ferocious part of Israel’s offensive against Hamas due to unfold.

Highly experienced British hostage crisis experts are part of a team, The Independent has learned, in Israel and the wider region to assist in the mission and help families to be reunited with relations of the 240 people who were abducted in the cross-border raid on 7 October.

A British hostage crisis operative, currently in Israel, said: “This is very difficult and complex work, having to take place in the middle of very heavy kinetic activity, with the hostages in close proximity.

“They are being held in places which are likely to be affected by military action which is ratcheting up. So speed is obviously of great essence, but there are geopolitical considerations, which means a lot of factors are at play.”

Our world affairs editor Kim Sengupta reports from Tel Aviv:

Hundreds of medical professionals are gathering outside Downing Street to hold a vigil for medics killed in Gaza.

Demonstrators are holding placards with the names of those killed during Israel’s intense bombardment of the strip since 7 October, and will be holding a minute’s silence.

Dr Omar Abdel-Mannan, whose group Gaza Medic Voices publishes firsthand accounts from medical staff in Gaza told the BBC from Downing Street: “We have organised this vigil. We are a collective of healthcare professionals – nurses, doctors, surgeons, paramedics, physios – from every walk of the NHS and every walk of life within the NHS.

“We are congregating today because our unified message is that it is unacceptable for healthcare workers in Gaza to be attacked and be killed. We have lost almost 200 of our colleagues – our brothers, our friends, our sisters – in Gaza who work in the healthcare field.

“It is horrific and it is frankly unimagineable to work in those conditions … Enough is enough. A ceasefire needs to happen now. This is unacceptable. The situation is catastrophic. The healthcare system has collapsed.”

The officer in charge of policing London during Saturday’s pro-Palestine protest has refused to comment on whether Suella Braverman’s comments about police bias have undermined the force.

Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor said: “We’ve got a really difficult weekend this weekend, I’m not going to comment on politics. It’s not my place to comment on politics.

“We will police what we need to police with a robust policing pattern, recognising all of the concerns in our communities and for people coming to London over the weekend, so that we can keep them safe.”

The Metropolitan Police treats protesters “without fear or favour”, the officer in charge of policing London during Saturday’s pro-Palestine protest has said.

In a piece for The Times, home secretary Suella Braverman claimed there is a perception police “play favourites” towards pro-Palestinian protesters who are “largely ignored, even when clearly breaking the law”.

Asked on Friday whether Ms Braverman’s comments were accurate, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor said: “We’ve been really clear on our policing position this week.

“Our job is to ensure that we police without fear or favour, that we balance the rights of everybody – be that protesters, counter protesters, or people living or coming into London. And our job this weekend is to ensure that people are kept safe and that is what my focus is on.”

The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on British Muslims, a cross-party committee of MPs, hit out at the home secretary’s rhetoric, which has seen her describe the demonstrations as “hate marches”, warning she is “inspiring far-right” to engage in Islamophobia.

Ms Braverman’s job is on the line after Downing Street made clear that it had not approved an extraordinary article in which she accused officers of playing favourites by tolerating the Armistice Day march while using stronger tactics against right-wing protests, with senior Tories urging Mr Sunak to sack her.

Heba Alhayek, 29, Pauline Ankunda, 26, and Noimutu Olayinka Taiwo, 27, were all charged under the Terrorism Act as part of the same investigation, for allegedly wearing or displaying images of paragliders during the demonstration in Whitehall on October 14.

Alhayek and Ankunda, both from Crystal Palace, south-east London, were each charged on November 3 with carrying or displaying an article to arouse reasonable suspicion that they are supporters of banned organisation Hamas, and Taiwo, from Croydon, south london, was charged with the same offence on Thursday.