Faith leaders, senior MPs and the Mayor of London joined forces on Friday to issue a plea for calm, respect and unity ahead of Armistice Day and a pro-Gaza march in London.
Sadiq Khan called on Londoners to “pull together” and stressed that “diversity is our greatest strength”.
London minister Paul Scully said “the streets of London must not become a proxy” for the Hamas-Israel conflict, especially on a weekend “when we remember the horrors of the two world wars”. They both appealed for people, including politicians after Home
Secretary Suella Braverman’s incendiary article accusing the police of “bias” in the way they treat protests, to try to “calm not inflame” situations.
The thoughts of many Londoners will be on those who fell fighting in past wars to defend the nation and its way of life — or took their own lives so tragically in subsequent years.
Tens of thousands will also take to the city’s streets on Saturday to demand a ceasefire in Gaza. The planned route for the march goes from Hyde Park, about a mile from the Cenotaph in Whitehall, to the US embassy in Vauxhall, south of the Thames. The Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall, which will be attended by the King and Queen and other members of the royal family, will also take place on Saturday.
One of the organisers of Saturday’s march, John Rees from The Stop the War coalition, predicted that more than 500,000 people could take part, more than in previous protests, and that many coach companies were reporting full bookings to attend it. But claims about the scale of earlier marches have been disputed, with suggestions that the figures were significantly lower than those stated by organisers.
There were concerns that breakaway groups from the main march could look for trouble and that Right-wing groups may seek out clashes. Police chiefs are contacting organisers of protests across England and Wales to mitigate the risk of disorder at events on Armistice Day tomorrow and Remembrance Sunday.
Writing in the Evening Standard, Mr Khan said: “Emotions are running high, but all of us — and especially senior politicians — have a duty to calm not inflame the situation.”
He stressed that the Remembrance period is “rightly regarded as sacrosanct” and highlighted the capital’s global reputation for “not just tolerating people of different faiths and backgrounds, but for actively embracing and celebrating them”.
He added: “We know our diversity isn’t a weakness but our greatest strength. We simply cannot let events overseas come between us.
Rather, as others seek to stoke tensions and divide, we must stand together and unite.” Sharing many of Mr Khan’s sentiments, Mr Scully stressed the “need to be respectful, tolerant and mindful of others”.
He added: “I hope political and community leaders keep a tone that calms, not inflames division, understanding that passions are running high.
“And that protesters share their worries in a way that recognises the complexity of the centuries-old situation in the Middle East, that Jewish and Muslim Londoners are fearful and remembering that there are those who are deliberately seeking to create wedges in our communities, spreading hatred and causing division.
"The streets of London must not become a proxy for that conflict, not least on a weekend when we remember the horrors of the two world wars.” Faith leaders joined together in the plea for unity.
Bishop of London, the Rt Rev Dame Sarah Mullally, said: “Remembrance Sunday is a moment for the whole country to come together in solemn reflection, a time to set aside politics. United by grief, but not without hope, we will honour and cherish the countless lives we have lost, as we do each year, here in the capital and across the country. We will remember them.”
Senior Rabbi at the New North London Synagogue, Jonathan Wittenberg, said: “We owe it to each other, and to the dignity of humankind, to stand peacefully together in unity as we remember the dead and show compassionate respect for the families they left bereft.”
Founder of Southgate Mosque, Imam Ajmal Masroor, added: “All lives matter. We must protect everyone’s life, no matter what faith they are. We have a moral duty to call for peace for all people. This weekend in London we should stand shoulder-to-shoulder, hand-in-hand and united. We have a very multi-cultural diverse city celebrating diversity. I call for everyone to come together. We need an end to the bloodbaths, the bickering.”
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey, MP for Kingston and Surbiton, said: “There are those seeking to divide our great city, but I know we will once again rise above it, and prove we are a compassionate, open, and tolerant capital.”
The route of the march has been agreed with the police. It starts on the eastern side of Hyde Park with marchers then going towards Hyde Park Corner. They will go down Grosvenor Place, pass Victoria and walk down Vauxhall Bridge Road. The protesters will cross Vauxhall bridge and turn south-west along the river, ending up at the embassy.
