Defend our Right to Protest: Write to the Home Secretary and the Mayor of London

Last month, the Met Police banned our planned peaceful protest at the BBC. Its heavy-handed policing has been condemned by Liberty, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International UK, over 50 MPs and Peers, lawyers and legal scholars, trade union leaders, and British Palestinians.

But we will not accept attempts to silence our movement.

Write to the Home Secretary and the Mayor of London to defend our right to protest and join the widespread body of calls for an independent inquiry:

Home Secretary

Mayor of London

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I wish to express my grave concerns at the Metropolitan Police’s heavy-handed policing of the Palestine rally on Saturday 18 January 2025 and to support the demand for an independent inquiry, as called for by over 50 MPs and Peers, lawyers and legal scholars, trade union leaders, and British Palestinians.  
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After 16 months of Israel’s genocidal attacks on the Palestinian people of the Gaza Strip, we could now be facing the greatest crime of this century. US President Donald Trump’s grotesque plan for the mass ethnic cleansing of 2.3 million Palestinians, makes it more important than ever that the millions in Britain who believe in international law and human rights are free to peacefully express their opposition to these monstrous proposals. 
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The rally on 18 January had been arranged following a decision by the Metropolitan Police to impose a ban on a planned march from the BBC that had previously been agreed between organisers and the police. At short notice, the police imposed a series of complex restrictions preventing people from assembling at various points on Whitehall at various times of the day. As a result, a number of people were arrested without warning. I understand that a total of 77 people were arrested on the day, 66 of them for alleged violations of these orders. Those charged with such violations include the chief steward of the rally, Chris Nineham, of the Stop the War Coalition and the Director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Ben Jamal.  
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Since the rally, the Metropolitan Police have made assertions that are clearly contradicted by video evidence published online. This includes the claim that a delegation of organisers and rally speakers including an 87-year-old Jewish Holocaust survivor, MPs, trade union leaders and prominent cultural figures, forcibly breached police lines. On the contrary, video shows them being instructed by the police to ‘filter’ through. If indeed the Metropolitan Police has attempted to mislead the public, this can only serve to undermine confidence in policing.  
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I am aware that the repressive powers used by the police on this occasion stem from efforts by the previous Conservative government to curb our freedom to protest. The restriction of our rights to free thought, expression, and assembly only serves to undermine democracy. 
At this dangerous time, I urge you to protect these precious rights by repealing these anti-democratic anti-protest laws and initiating an independent inquiry into the policing of the Palestine rally on Saturday 18 January and the subsequent claims made by the Metropolitan Police. All charges against those unjustly arrested or charged should be dropped. 
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Defend our Right to Protest: Write to the Home Secretary and the Mayor of London