“The Met has given over the political centre of London to a hate march, while denying the Palestine movement its formally requested route.”
The Palestine Coalition has published the following statement demanding that Sadiq Khan intervene in the Metropolitan Police’s shameful decision to favour Tommy Robinson’s far-right hate march over the annual Nakba Day commemoration.
The Metropolitan Police has refused permission for the Palestine movement to march to commemorate Nakba day on 16 May on its proposed route, apparently because they have given permission for racist thug ‘Tommy Robinson’ to take over the political centre of London that day.
We call on London Mayor Sadiq Khan, whose role includes overseeing the Metropolitan Police Service, setting its strategic direction and holding the Commissioner to account, to intervene by asking the Met not to favour the far right over Palestine.
The Palestine coalition informed the Met on 18 December 2025 of its intention to hold the Nakba day march on 16 May 2026, and requested a route that it has done many times before, which finishes in Whitehall. We were only told in late March that they had agreed Tommy Robinson would be taking the entirety of Kingsway to Parliament Square, including Trafalgar Square, and therefore the coalition’s requested route could not be allowed.
It appears therefore that the Met has given over the political centre of London to a hate march, while denying the Palestine movement its formally requested route.
We ask that Mayor Khan requests the Met reverse this decision. We also call on everyone of good conscience to join us for Palestine on 16 May. We will march.
- The Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Palestinian Forum in Britain, Friends of Al-Aqsa, Stop the War Coalition, Muslim Association of Britain, and Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament are members of the Palestine Coalition.
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