Armistice Day ‘ring of steel’ in London with 500,000 marching on Saturday

Up to 500,000 people are expected to attend a pro-Palestine march in London on Saturday, prompting the Met to draft in 1,000 extra officers to police the march.

One of the organisers of the Armistice Day march demanding a ceasefire in Gaza has predicted that more than half a million people will attend the event.

John Rees, from the group, said the protest in London will be ‘truly historic’, exceeding the half a million he believes joined a previous protest in the capital.

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‘We are convinced it will be the biggest demonstration so far over Palestine,’ he said.

‘Our local groups up and down the country have reported they’ve sold out of seats on hundreds of coaches.’

In response, Met chiefs plan to form a ‘ring of steel’ in London this Saturday to ensure the protests do no clash with the Armistice Day parades.

Police have had their leave cancelled, their overtime extended and seen 1,000 more officers drafted in from across Britain to bolster their ranks.

Senior officers have been reported to immediately clamp down on any criminality or violence which they believe may interrupt Remembrance services throughout the weekend.

It comes after Met Police chief Sir Mark Rowley refused to ban pro-Palestine rallies on Armistice Day – saying he legally had ‘no power’ to stop it.

But he did not rule out action if protesters disrupted the remembrance events – saying the force would ‘protect locations and events of national importance at all costs’.

Sir Mark said he could not ban Saturday’s demonstration simply because people felt it should not take place.

‘The laws created by Parliament are clear. There is no absolute power to ban protest, therefore there will be a protest this weekend,’ he said.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made marked comments yesterday that Sir Mark would be accountable for maintaining order over the weekend.

Chief Constable Chris Haward, who is leading the national police response to the renewed conflict in Gaza, said that even if a march were banned, the right for protesters to gather in one location would remain.

‘Even if you ban the march, you cannot ban the assembly,’ he said.

‘You will still expect to have 100,000 people, maybe more, turning up who will then be in a static position.’

He added: ‘The threshold (for a ban) is extremely high. It is about serious violence, and not about the words that might be chanted.’

The NPCC has stressed that demonstrations outside London have largely been peaceful. In 67 protests between November 2 and 5 just eight arrests were made.

Meanwhile, Home Secretary Suella Braverman has been left fighting for her job after describing pro-Palestine demonstrations as ‘hate marches’, and accusing the police of favouring left-wing groups over right in an unauthorised article in the Times.

Gavin Stephens, who is chairman of the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), said that political views could not be allowed to influence decision making.

Mr Stephens said it is ‘really important that the public debate doesn’t feature in our operational decision making’ because it would ‘fundamentally undermine’ how policing works in the UK.

It comes as gangs of football hooligans have said they are planning to ‘team up’ and ‘protect’ the Cenotaph from pro-Palestine protestors this weekend.

Officers fear more than a thousand, far-right thugs will descent on London in order to ‘protect’ the Cenotaph from Palestine protesters.

One group, named ‘Football Lads Against Extremism’, claims veterans have reached out and asked for their support ‘due to the threat from the far left and pro-Palestine supporters to disrupt the Remembrance Day parade’.

They are calling on ‘all football lads up and down the country to join us in standing shoulder to shoulder with our veterans that fought for our freedom’.

Mr Haward said counter-protests will be facilitated ‘without bias’ as long as they are peaceful, but issued stern warnings that hate crime or law-breaking during demonstrations would not be tolerated.

He said: ‘As emotive as this situation can be, let me be clear that there is absolutely no excuse for anybody to use it to engage in criminality. Hate crime will not be tolerated.

‘Committing offences during protests will not be tolerated. We have made arrests and are well prepared to continue to do so.

‘When we are alerted to crimes, particularly those which are inflammatory and fuelled by hate, we will take action either making the arrests at the time or conducting thorough investigations afterwards to bring offenders to justice.’

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