Gary Lineker has weighed into the controversy over a planned pro-Palestine march on Armistice Day by criticising Home Secretary Suella Braverman.
There are fears the march later this month could disrupt the two-minute silence commemorating the war dead and the daytime and evening Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall, with the latter performance usually attended by royals.The Prime Minister has said holding the protest on Saturday November 11 would be “provocative and disrespectful”, while the Home Secretary dubbed it a "hate march" prompting Lineker to tweet: "Marching and calling for a ceasefire and peace so that more innocent children don’t get killed is not really the definition of a hate march."
Marching and calling for a ceasefire and peace so that more innocent children don’t get killed is not really the definition of a hate march. https://t.co/qLyIqZKhwt
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) November 3, 2023
The Met, which will be responsible for on-the-day policing of the demonstration, could ask the Home Secretary for temporary powers to ban protests from happening in certain areas of London, but only if it believes there is a risk of “serious public disorder”.
It said protest groups have not indicated plans to march on Remembrance Sunday on November 12 but a significant demonstration is expected on the Saturday.
Demo organisers have pledged to avoid the Whitehall area where the Cenotaph war memorial – the focus of national remembrance events – is located.
Lineker's interjection in the debate comes months after the Match of the Day host was taken off air by the BBC after a tweet criticising government asylum plans.
That move saw the corporation plunged into crisis after Lineker was supported by a unofficial strike by fellow on-air talent including fellow Match of the Day stars Alan Shearer and Ian Wright.
That prompted a BBC review into its social media guidelines which ruled primetime presenters were been banned from making attacks on political parties.
The guidance states presenters cannot endorse or attack a political party, criticise the character of individual politicians in the UK, comment on political debate during a UK general election or referendum, or take up an official role in campaigning groups while the programme is on air and for a two-week window before and after the series.
