The UK deputy prime minister, Oliver Dowden, has reiterated the government’s “grave concerns” about pro-Palestinian marches on Armistice Day despite assurances from organisers about avoiding the Cenotaph and the timing of their rally.
Following the injury on Saturday to four policeman and the arrest of 29 people at a rally in London against Israeli attacks on Gaza, Dowden said fruther demonstrations planned for next Saturday, 11 November, could lead to more unrest. He also said the rallies could be misconstrued as a sign of intimidation, especially towards the Jewish community.
Speaking to Sky News’s Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips programme, Dowden said: “At a time that is meant to be a solemn remembrance of the sacrifice of previous generations and upholding our British values, I think the police need to think very carefully about the safety of that demonstration, namely whether it could spill over into violent protest and the signal it sends, particularly to the Jewish community.
“Now, I understand that the Met commissioner continues to keep it under review and I think that is appropriate.”
Last week, Rishi Sunak described the planned protest on Armistice Day, when events will include a two-minute silence commemorating Britain’s war dead on the 105th anniversary of the end of the first world war, as “provocative and disrespectful”. The home secretary, Suella Braverman, ramped up the rhetoric with a post on X, formerly Twitter, which said: “It is entirely unacceptable to desecrate Armistice Day with a hate march through London.”
The organisers, Palestinian Solidarity Campaign, have pledged next Saturday’s march will avoid the Cenotaph and the area around Whitehall in central London, where the memorial is located and where the annual national service of remembrance will take place the following day. No protest march is planned for Remembrance Sunday.
Asked whether he was suggesting the police should ban Saturday’s march, Dowden told Sky: “I do have very grave concerns about that march, both in terms of how it sits with acts of solemn remembrance and the kind of intimidation that is being sent out by the chants and everything else that goes on at those marches.
“I think it is right that it is the law of the land that the police are operationally independent. But I think it is important that they consider those factors, yes.”
The Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, has promised to take a “robust approach” and to use “all the powers available” to ensure commemorative events are “not undermined”.
But he also expressed scepticism about Braverman’s repeated use of the phrase “hate march” in connection to pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
Speaking to the News Agents podcast on Friday, Rowley said: “She’s picked two words out the English language and strung them together … I don’t know whether she means everybody there or some of the people there, that’s not for me.”
Appearing on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme later on Sumdau, Dowden said there had been “hateful conduct” at pro-Palestinian marches and those attending needed to ask whether they were “lending support” to such behaviour.
He said: “You have had those chants of things like ‘jihad’ – they are an affront not just to the Jewish community, they should be an affront to all of British society.
“And I think all of us should be calling out that kind of thing, and I think people who are on those marches need to ask themselves whether they are lending support to that kind of thing.”
Meanwhile, the shadow defence secretary, John Healey, said he he hoped the police and the organisers could agree to an alternative time and location for the rally.
Asked if the Labour party would be upset if the police decided they did not want the march to go ahead, Healey said: “If the police decided they didn’t want to go ahead under what is the 1986 legislation it will be for the home secretary to take that decision. I hope that won’t be necessary.”
In a statement, Palestinian Solidarity Campaign said of Saturday’s march it had “no intention of marching on or near Whitehall” and would start almost two hours after the minute’s silence of commemoration for the war dead.
It said: “Given these facts, we are alarmed by members of the government, including the prime minster, issuing statements suggesting that the march is a direct threat to the Cenotaph and designed to disrupt the Remembrance Sunday commemorations.
“Such statements are encouraging the calls from far-rights activists and commentators who appear to be inciting action on the streets to stop the protests taking place and are deeply irresponsible.”
