“There are serious questions for the Metropolitan Police to answer over their policing of the most recent national protest for Gaza which proves public order legislation is preventing legitimate protest.”
Andy McDonald MP
By the Palestine Solidarity Campaign
A cross-party letter from over 50 MPs and Peers drawn from six parliamentary groups as well as independent MPs has been sent to the Home Secretary in support of calls for an independent inquiry into the Metropolitan Police’s approach to a pro-Palestine protest on Saturday 18th January 2025 which resulted in 77 arrests and charges under the Public Order being brought against organisers.
In their letter the Parliamentarians have described this as “the apparent denial of civil liberties and freedom to protest.” They have called on the Government to repeal anti-protest laws brought in under the last Conservative government which, in Opposition, Labour said would ‘erode historic freedoms of peaceful protest’.
It has emerged that the day after the protest the Met Police Chief Mark Rowley addressed a meeting of the pro-Israel Board of Deputies at which he boasted that his team imposed “sharper and stronger conditions” on the organisers of the demonstration. The Parliamentarians’ letter asks the Home Secretary to clarify whether there was any discussion between the Commissioner and the Home Office around such a significant change in policy.
The letter from Parliamentarians also points out the inconsistency between the Met police’s statements on the protest and video evidence that contradicts it. They say they “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.”
Events at the national Palestine protest on 18 January have drawn widespread criticism towards the Metropolitan Police, including from Amnesty International UK and Liberty. The Met reneged on a previous agreement to allow a march from BBC Portland Place to Whitehall, a route taken several times before. It then sought to impose a route the Board of Deputies publicly claimed that it had proposed to the police. This was rejected by the Palestine Coalition organising group. Finally, the Met banned any alternative march route allowing only a rally in Whitehall.
On the day there was a massive police presence, with police obstructing the gathering for the rally in many respects. There was an unusually high number of arrests of protestors. The Chief Steward who organises the demonstrations for the Palestine Coalition in discussion with police was violently arrested on the day, and with the Director of Palestine Solidarity Campaign, subsequently charged with offences under the Public Order Act. Two MPs – Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell – who attended the protest have been interviewed under caution by the police.
Andy McDonald MP said:
“There are serious questions for the Metropolitan Police to answer over their policing of the most recent national protest for Gaza which proves public order legislation is preventing legitimate protest.
The police are yet to explain why they have charged organisers and questioned MPs over public order breaches, when their account of events conflicts with widely available video footage.
There is a strong case for the Home Secretary to establish an independent investigation into the police’s decisions on Saturday January 18th, but also a wider review of public order legislation which Labour in opposition said would erode historic freedoms of peaceful protest.”
- You can read the letter published in full here.
- You can follow the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) on Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram and Bluesky.
