Police have moved to reassure poppy sellers that their safety is not at risk following concerns they could be targeted by pro-Palestine protesters.
The statement from British Transport Police came after it said an investigation had been dropped into an alleged attack on an elderly man selling poppies at a train station in Edinburgh.
Jim Henderson, a 78-year-old army veteran, claimed he was punched and kicked as he tried to pack away his stall at Waverley station on Nov. 4.
Speaking on Thursday, assistant chief constable Sean O’Callaghan said there was “insufficient evidence” to pursue Mr. Henderson’s allegations.
“Detectives have extensively monitored CCTV and spoken with key identified witnesses,” he said.
“There is insufficient evidence to take the investigation further at this time.
Hate Marches
Fears of violence have been ramped up this week as around half a million people are expected to take to the streets in London to demand a ceasefire in Gaza over Armistice weekend.Metropolitan Police chief Mark Rowley refused to ban the pro-Palestine protests despite pointed public comments by the prime minister and the home secretary.
On Thursday, Suella Braverman described the demonstrations as “hate marches,” accusing the police of favouring left-wing groups over right in a widely criticised article published in the Times of London.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also that Sir Mark would be accountable for maintaining order over the weekend.
Gavin Stephens, one of the UK’s most senior police officers, publicly defended the force chiefs’ rights to make independent operational decisions amid intense political pressure.
The chairman of the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) said that political views could not be allowed to influence decision-making.
“The decisions that we take are not easy ones, but we do so impartially, without fear or favour, and in line with both the law and our authorised professional practice,” he said.
Ban
A significant policing operation is set to take place in central London over the weekend, with more than 1,000 officers being drafted in from outside forces—778 on Saturday and 288 on Sunday.Police chiefs are contacting organisers of protests across England and Wales to mitigate the risk of disorder or events on Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday being disrupted.
Speaking to journalists ahead of the national demonstrations, Mr. Stephens said he considers it one of his civic responsibilities to use language carefully and not stoke up community tensions.
“In everything that we do, whether that’s the policing plans that we put in place, the breadth of the community engagement activity […] the conversations that we have with individuals or community groups, all of that should be directed toward keeping people safe and feeling safe, and how we choose to describe that activity in the public arena can set the context in which we police.”
Chief Constable Chris Haward, who is leading the national police response to the renewed conflict in Gaza, said that even if a march were banned, the right for protesters to gather in one location would remain.
“Even if you ban the march, you cannot ban the assembly,” he said.
“You will still expect to have 100,000 people, maybe more, turning up who will then be in a static position.”
He added: “The threshold (for a ban) is extremely high. It is about serious violence, and not about the words that might be chanted.”
Hate Crime
The NPCC has stressed that demonstrations outside London have largely been peaceful. In 67 protests between Nov. 2 and 5 just eight arrests were made.According to the Met, 57 people have been arrested for public order offences, including violence during protests in the English capital since the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7.
Mr. Haward said that the rise in hate crime amid the renewed conflict in the region was more intense than previous spikes in 2014 and 2021.
The biggest surge has been in London, with the Met currently accounting for more than 70 percent of hate crimes nationally, compared to normal levels of around a quarter.
One of the demonstration organisers, Stop the War coalition, said coach companies across the country are reporting that all their vehicles are fully booked, with waiting lists in some areas.
John Rees, from the group, said the protest in London will be “truly historic,” exceeding the half a million he believes joined a previous protest in the capital.
“We are convinced it will be the biggest demonstration so far over Palestine,” he told the PA news agency.
“Our local groups up and down the country have reported they’ve sold out of seats on hundreds of coaches.”
Stop the War has insisted that the focus of the march is on stopping the killing in Gaza.
Threat
On Thursday, the Times of London said it had carried out an “audit” of London’s biggest stations which found that volunteers for the Royal British Legion (RBL), which is raising money for veterans and members of the armed forces, were absent from King’s Cross, Euston, and Liverpool Street.Poppy sellers remained present at a majority of the capital’s transport hubs, such as Paddington, Charing Cross, St Pancras, London Bridge, Waterloo, and Victoria, with volunteers stating that they had never felt under threat while raising for the charity, the newspaper reports.
The RBL said it relied on volunteers and could not provide cover at all stations throughout the appeal. Tracy Cooper, a 65-year-old RBL volunteer at Paddington station, told the newspaper that she and her fellow volunteers had never felt under threat at the station.
Here at the station, we have a tight-knit community. I’ve been coming here for the past 20 years to this same spot. If we ever felt we needed any extra help, we [would] just wave to the staff and they [would] come running. We never ever feel threatened,” she said.
A RBL spokesperson said: “We have thousands of brilliant individuals who volunteer to collect donations for the Poppy Appeal each year, across cities, towns, villages and communities. We are reliant on the generous time these volunteers offer, and we arrange Poppy Appeal collections as widely as possible but cannot provide volunteer cover at all locations throughout the whole appeal.”
