Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Wednesday that he will hold Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley “accountable” after the police chief rejected calls to ban a pro-Palestinian protest on Armistice Day this Saturday.
The prime minister, who has branded Armistice Day protests “provocative and disrespectful” and warned of risks they may bring, said the decision on whether or not to allow the march rests with Sir Mark Rowley, and he will hold the commissioner accountable for his job to maintain safety during the events.
Speaking to broadcasters during a visit to a school in Lincolnshire, Mr. Sunak said: “This is a decision that the Metropolitan Police commissioner has made. He has said that he can ensure that we safeguard remembrance for the country this weekend as well as keep the public safe. Now, my job is to hold him accountable for that.”
The prime minister said ministers have asked the police for information on how they will ensure public safety and prevent interruptions to remembrance weekend events while policing a large protest.
“More broadly, my view is that these marches are disrespectful, and that’s what I’ll be discussing with the police commissioner later today,” he said.
The prime minister said the remembrance weekend is “about the country coming together to pay tribute and recognise the sacrifice of so many over so many years.”
Tens of thousands of Pro-Palestinians demonstrators have taken the streets of London every Saturday since the Israel-Hamas war broke out. The are demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza despite Foreign Secretary James Cleverly saying he saw no signs Hamas would abide by a ceasefire.
The Met has urged organisers to “urgently reconsider” after they refused to call off the march on Armistice Day, saying senior officers are concerned about the risks of “criminal acts by breakaway groups,” but the groups called on the Met to resist “political pressure.”
The organisers have agreed to move away from their previous marching route, which included the Cenotaph and the Whitehall area. However, there are still concerns that the Cenotaph may get vandalised and remembrance traditions, including a two-minute silence, will be disrupted.
Mr. Sunak said last week that planning any protest on Armistice Day is “provocative and disrespectful” and warned of a “clear and present risk that the Cenotaph and other war memorials could be desecrated.”
Met Commissioner: Threshold Not Met For A Ban
Sir Mark said on Tuesday that the Met will do everything in their power to ensure remembrance events “pass without disruption,” but said they have “no absolute power to ban protest.”“Therefore there will be a protest this weekend,” he said.
The police chief said the use of a ban is “incredibly rare and must be based on intelligence which suggests there will be a real threat of serious disorder and no other way for police to manage the event,” adding, “The last time it was used was over a decade ago.”
In 2011, then-Prime Minister Theresa May approved a ban on “all marches in Tower Hamlets and four neighbouring boroughs for a 30-day period” after the English Defence League planned to march in the area, which it claimed was “subject to Sharia law.”
Sir Mark said there have been pockets of violence in the recent pro-Palestinian groups, “but at this time, the intelligence surrounding the potential for serious disorder this weekend does not meet the threshold to apply for a ban.”
But the police chief hasn’t ruled out a ban, saying the Met will apply for it if intelligence evolves over the next few days.
Writing on X, formerly known as Twitter, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, who is facing pressure from his own party to back a ceasefire, said, “Remembrance events must be respected. Full stop,” but he accused Mr. Sunak of “picking a fight with the police,” saying the person the prime minister needs to hold accountable is his home secretary.
No. 10 Denies Pressuring the Police
Downing Street denied that the prime minister is trying to pressure on the Met Commissioner by saying he would hold Sir Mark accountable, with Mr. Sunak’s spokesman saying it’s “part and parcel of how government and the Met operate.He reaffirmed No. 10’s position that protesting this weekend is “provocative and disrespectful.”
“It is a poignant weekend of remembrance where people from across the UK come together,” the spokesman said.
“Planning a march to coincide with that which, based on previous marches, may include incidents of expressing racial hatred for which there were a number of arrests last weekend would be provocative and disrespectful.”
The official declined to answer whether the government would overrule the Met’s decision, saying, “The Met are operationally independent.”
