The Metropolitan Police has called for a planned protest in support of the banned Palestine Action group to be delayed or cancelled after Thursday’s synagogue attack in Manchester.
In a statement, the force said it wanted to deploy every available officer to protect Jewish communities, but was instead having to prepare for Saturday’s planned gathering in London’s Trafalgar Square.
Palestine Action was banned under anti-terrorism laws in July.
Politics latest: Mahmood says pro-Palestinian protests ‘dishonourable’ after Manchester attack
“The horrific terrorist attack that took place in Manchester yesterday will have caused significant fear and concern in communities across the UK, including here in London,” the Met said.
“Yet at a time when we want to be deploying every available officer to ensure the safety of those communities, we are instead having to plan for a gathering of more than 1,000 people in Trafalgar Square on Saturday in support of a terrorist organisation.
“By choosing to encourage mass law breaking on this scale, Defend Our Juries [the protest organisers] are drawing resources away from the communities of London at a time when they are needed most.”
But Defend Our Juries, which has led demonstrations against the ban on Palestine Action, said it planned to go ahead with the march.
A statement from the group on social media said: “Today, the Metropolitan Police wrote to us to ask that we postpone Saturday’s mass protest in Trafalgar Square, citing ‘significant pressure on policing’.
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“Our response in short: Don’t arrest us then.”
It comes after the home secretary criticised separate pro-Palestinian protests held last night as “fundamentally un-British” and “dishonourable”.
A demonstration – held to protest the Israeli navy halting a flotilla carrying aid to Gaza – was held in London’s Whitehall on Thursday evening, hours after the attack in Crumpsall that killed two Jewish men.
The Metropolitan Police said 40 people had been arrested in the course of the protest, six of whom were arrested for assaults on police officers.
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Speaking to Anna Jones on Sky News Breakfast, Shabana Mahmood said she was “very disappointed” to see the protests go ahead, given the context.
“I think that behaviour is fundamentally un-British,” she said. “I think it’s dishonourable.”
She said the issues that had been driving the pro-Palestine protests have been “going on for some time” and “don’t look like they’re going to come to an end any day soon” – but that those behind the demonstrations could have taken a “step back”.
“They could have stepped back and just given a community that has suffered deep loss just a day or two to process what has happened and to carry on with the grieving process,” she said.
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“I think some humanity could have been shown.”
Any further protests must “comply with the law and, where someone steps outside of the law of our land, they will be arrested”, the home secretary warned.
She added: “And to anybody who is thinking about going on a protest, what I would say is, imagine if that was you that has had a family member murdered on the holiest day in your faith. Imagine how you would feel and then just step back for a minute, give people a chance to grieve.
“We can get back to our protests later – just because you have a freedom doesn’t mean you have to use it.”
However, Zack Polanski, the leader of the Green Party, accused the home secretary of being “deeply irresponsible” for her comments about pro-Palestine protests.
“I think ultimately conflating protests against the genocide in Gaza and ultimately weaponising that against an anti-Semitic attack on our streets, a terrorist attack, is deeply irresponsible,” he told Sky News Breakfast.
The Green Party leader said it was “worrying when governments are increasingly trying to crush down dissent” and using “what is a brutal attack… to try and make a point about protest”.
“We need statesmanship at this moment. We need responsibility,” he added.
The two men killed outside the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in Thursday’s attack have been named by police as Adrian Daulby, 53, and Melvin Cravitz, 66.
The suspect has been named as Jihad al Shamie – a 35-year-old British citizen of Syrian descent.
He is understood to have been granted British citizenship in 2006 when he was around 16 years old, having entered the UK as a young child.
Ms Mahmood confirmed to Sky News that the perpetrator was not known to counter-terror police and that he had not been referred to the government’s anti-terrorism scheme Prevent.
Three other people – two men in their 30s and a woman in her 60s – have been arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism.
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Asked if she was concerned about further attacks, Ms Mahmood said the government was on “high alert”.
She said there had been an increase in police resources not just in Manchester but across he country.
“We as a government want to make sure that people feel safe going about their business today; so people will see an increased police presence, particularly around synagogues and other places of interest for the Jewish community,” she said.
