“We believe the charges should be dropped against those unjustly arrested, or unjustly charged, following the protest. And we ask that the Home Office commission an independent investigation into the policing of the protest.”
Over 50 cross-party MPs and Peers from six parliamentary groups have signed a letter to the Home Secretary, calling for an independent inquiry into the policing of the Palestine demonstration on 18 January. The letter, led by Andy McDonald MP, is published below.
Dear Home Secretary,
We write concerning the above, and specifically to raise concerns about the manner of the policing and the apparent denial of civil liberties and freedom to protest.
We are all cautiously relieved that a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip has been announced and is currently being implemented with hostages starting to return to their families and Palestinian detainees being released.
The hope is that the staged ceasefire and release of hostages and prisoners continues as planned. But the Palestine solidarity movement remains as pertinent as ever, with Palestinians still facing daily brutal oppression under Israel’s decades long illegal occupation.
The situation for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip is desperate, and the lifting of sanctions against violent settlers in the West Bank by Donald Trump has already fuelled further violence against Palestinians living there. It is clear that the injustices experienced by Palestinians continues and remains an important issue for many millions of UK citizens and for peoples across the world. The regular large scale protests taking place across the country over the last 15 months have been an important democratic expression of the strength of public feeling on this issue.
These protests have been very well organised, with 24 national demonstrations each with between 100,000 and a million people attending. They have been peaceful in nature and attended by a broad range of people and groups – including a prominent Jewish block at every march. Ahead of every march, the organisers have discussed fully with the Metropolitan Police to ensure their success.
We are deeply troubled, however, by the obstacles put in place by the Metropolitan Police ahead of the 18th January demonstration, as well as the policing on the day. We have spoken to the key figures in the forefront of the events of the day, listened to their first-hand accounts and viewed the video footage, and there are some significant issues of concern.
It is very clear from the published footage that the protest organisers announced their intention to send a small delegation to walk towards the BBC, carrying flowers which they intended to lay there. They announced that if the police were to stop them proceeding to the BBC, then they would lay the flowers at the feet of the police instead.
Footage clearly shows the police inviting the delegation to ‘filter through’ from Whitehall into Trafalgar Square, as opposed to it ‘breaching police lines’ as subsequently alleged. In this context, we fail to see how the questioning of two Members of Parliament, the charging of Ben Jamal of Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Chris Nineham of Stop the War Coalition with public order offences, and indeed the assault on Chris Nineham during his arrest, and the interviewing of others under caution, can be thought justified or in any way appropriate.
There is a direct conflict in the respective positions of officers facilitating the progress of a delegation to lay flowers, and the allegation by the police that their lines had been forcibly breached. Clearly being invited to proceed is wholly inconsistent with the allegation of a forcible breach. We invite you to contrast the web posts and social media posts by the Metropolitan Police and the footage shared by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
We know that you will have received many direct representations no doubt detailing the chronology and the discussions had before and throughout the rally as between the PSC and the Police and we will not repeat those details here, but we were aghast to learn that Met Commissioner Mark Rowley said publicly the day after the protest that ‘his force imposed unprecedented restrictions’ on a major Palestine solidarity rally in London on 18th January that led to 77 arrests.
The changes to public order legislation by the last government, through both the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 and through the Public Order Act 2023, were rightly resisted. Civil society called it, ‘a staggering escalation of the Government’s clampdown on protest’. The Joint Committee on Human Rights rightly condemned the creation of, ‘a hostile environment for peaceful protestors.’ And an opposition frontbench reasoned amendment rightly declared this legislation would, ‘erode historic freedoms of peaceful protest’.
The High Court in May this year upheld legal challenges brought by Liberty against the almost “unlimited powers of the Police” and it is regrettable that the Government is appealing that decision and is seemingly supporting public order measures which we opposed when in Opposition.
The Government is rightly repealing anti-trade union legislation through the Employment Rights Bill. It should repeal anti-protest legislation as well. The use of public order legislation passed by the last Government, should be paused and subject to reconsideration by the Home Office rather than pursuing use of its devices.
With regards to last weekend’s protest, we ask that you clarify whether there was any discussion between the Commissioner and the Home Office, or any prior or subsequent engagement or communication around such a significant change in policy.
If so, could you please advise as to the origins of such a significant change and whether such an intention was approved in any way.
We believe the charges should be dropped against those unjustly arrested, or unjustly charged, following the protest. And we ask that the Home Office commission an independent investigation into the policing of the protest.
It was the former Government which fomented protest and used legislation to repress it, this Government must demonstrate it is delivering change.
Yours,
Diane Abbott MP
Shockat Adam MP
Órfhlaith Begley MP
Apsana Begum MP
Baroness Natalie Bennett
Sian Berry MP
Baroness Christine Blower
Baroness Pauline Bryan
Richard Burgon MP
Ian Byrne MP
Ellie Chowns MP
Pat Cullen MP
Lord Bryn Davies
Carla Denyer MP
Neil Duncan-Jordan MP
John Finucane MP
Mary Kelly Foy MP
Chris Hazzard MP
Lord John Hendy
Dáire Hughes MP
Adnan Hussain MP
Imran Hussain MP
Kim Johnson MP
Baroness Jenny Jones
Ayoub Khan MP
Ben Lake MP
Ian Lavery MP
Chris Law MP
Graham Leadbitter MP
Brian Leishman MP
Clive Lewis MP
Andy McDonald MP
Cathal Mallaghan MP
Rachael Maskell MP
Paul Maskey MP
Abtisam Mohamed MP
Iqbal Mohammed MP
Grahame Morris MP
Brendan O’Hara MP
Simon Opher MP
Kate Osborne MP
Adrian Ramsay MP
Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP
Lord Prem Sikka
Cat Smith MP
Euan Stainbank MP
Zarah Sultana MP
Jon Trickett MP
Nadia Whittome MP
Steve Witherden MP
Lord Tony Woodley
As MPs we are concerned about the manner of the policing and the apparent denial of civil liberties at a recent Gaza protest.
— Andy McDonald MP for Middlesbrough & Thornaby East (@AndyMcDonaldMP) January 30, 2025
We write to the Home Secretary seeking an independent investigation into the policing of the protest and review of public order legislation. pic.twitter.com/k7b1TVWkbQ
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