Cross-party MPs and peers, trade union general secretaries, cultural figures and celebrities, writers, journalists, health workers and civil society organisations and activists have condemned police attempts to stop an agreed Protest for Palestine taking place at the BBC on Saturday 18 January.
Met Police slammed over pro-Palestine march restrictions
In a statement issued today (10 January) by the six organisations behind the national Palestine marches, and supported by at least 150 high profile individuals and organisations, including Liberty, Amnesty International UK, and Greenpeace, the Metropolitan Police are accused of misusing public order powers to shield the BBC from democratic scrutiny.
Among those to have signed the statement are musician Brian Eno, singer-songwriter Charlotte Church, actors Mark Rylance, Khalid Abdalla, Nadia Sawalha and Juliet Stevenson, author Susan Abulhawa, economist Yanis Varoufakis, Akiko Hart, the director of Liberty and Asad Rehman, executive director, War on Want, along with several leading health workers, including London Hospital A&E doctor Dr Andrew Myerson.
Labour, Independent, Green, Plaid Cymru, Sinn Fein and SNP MPs have signed, while trade union leaders include PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote, RMT general secretary Mick Lynch, the NEU’s Daniel Kebede and FBU leader Matt Wrack.
The route of the march was agreed by the Met in November. They have now reneged on that agreement, citing possible disruption to a synagogue, which is not on the route of the march.
Making the point about the preciousness of the rights to freedom of speech and protest the statement concludes:
It is not acceptable in a democratic society that, in the face of an ongoing genocide in Gaza, people should be barred from protesting at the BBC. We call on the police to drop their objections and allow the protest to go ahead as planned.
Statement on police barring 18 January march from the BBC
We strongly condemn police attempts to stop an agreed march for Palestine from protesting at the BBC on 18 January.
The route for the march was confirmed with the Police nearly two months ago and, as agreed with them, was publicly announced on 30 November. This route, beginning at the BBC, has only been used twice in the last 15 months of demonstrations and not since February 2024. With just over a week to go, the Metropolitan Police is reneging on the agreement and has stated its intention to prevent the protest from going ahead as planned.
The BBC is a major institution – it is a publicly-funded state broadcaster and is rightly accountable to the public. The police should not be misusing public order powers to shield the BBC from democratic scrutiny.
The excuse offered by the police is that the march could cause disruption to a nearby synagogue which is not even on the march route. As the Met Police have acknowledged, there has not been a single incident of any threat to a synagogue attached to any of the marches. Any suggestion that pro-Palestine marches are somehow hostile to Jewish people ignores the fact that Jewish people have been joining the marches in their thousands.
The rights to protest and free speech are precious. It is not acceptable in a democratic society that, in the face of an ongoing genocide in Gaza, people should be barred from protesting at the BBC. We call on the police to drop their objections and allow the protest to go ahead as planned.
Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Palestinian Forum in Britain
Friends of Al-Aqsa
Stop the War Coalition
Muslim Association of Britain
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Featured image via the Canary
