“Over 200 prominent figures have now put their names to the statement, which accuses the police of misusing public order powers to shield the BBC from democratic scrutiny.”
By Stop the War
The general secretaries of some of the UK’s largest trade unions are among the sixteen union leaders to have now signed a statement by the National Palestine demonstration organisers on the Metropolitan Police ban on them protesting at the BBC on Saturday (18 January).
Names include Unison president Steve North, NEU’s Daniel Kebede, PCS’s Fran Heathcote, the FBU’s Matt Wrack, RMT’s Mick Lynch, Aslef’s Mick Whelan, TSSA’s Maryam Eslamdoust and the Baker’s Union leader Sarah Woolley.
Over 200 prominent figures have now put their names to the statement, which accuses the police of misusing public order powers to shield the BBC from democratic scrutiny.
The route for the march, from the BBC to Whitehall, was confirmed with the police nearly two months ago and, as agreed with them, was publicly announced on 30 November. The Met reneged on the agreement with just over a week to go, claiming it could cause disruption to a nearby synagogue, which is not even on the route.
During talks with the march organisers, the police have conceded that they have been heavily pressured to ban the march, including in submissions received from the BBC and in public calls, for the first time, by the Chief Rabbi.
These have resulted in a sudden and aggressive change of line from the police, with organisers being sent a formal notice by the Met that they risk arrest if they encourage people to demonstrate.
Stop the War Coalition vice chair Chris Nineham said:
“It’s encouraging that there has been a huge outpouring of protest at the police’s decision. We have 16 trade union leaders and over 40 parliamentarians condemning the police’s move, along with Amnesty International UK, Greenpeace, Liberty, War on Want and many more prominent people including artists, journalists, academics, doctors and lawyers, from actor Mark Rylance to singer Charlotte Church, Michael Mansfield KC to comedian Alexei Sayle and internationally famous Palestinian novelist Susan Abulawa.”
- The National Demonstration for Palestine is assembling at Whitehall at 12pm Saturday 18th January.
- The Palestine Coalition of demonstration organisers have published a statement against the Met Police’s attempts to stop the National Demonstration for Palestine, you can read it and view the full list of signatories here.
- You can follow Stop the War on Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky and Twitter/X.
