Pro-Palestine groups stunned by UK MP calls for further Gaza protest restrictions

Pro-Palestinian campaigners in the UK have condemned calls by MPs to enact further restrictions on Gaza solidarity marches, which activists say are another hurdle to peaceful, anti-war activism.

A cross-party Home Office Select Committee report claimed this week that police have been overwhelmed by the mass rallies taking place in London, recommending authorities are given more than the current six days' notice for the marches to go ahead.

Up to one million people turn out for regular pro-Palestine marches in London, which activists say have been the target of right-wing politicians and commentators as part of a 'culture war' against anti-war activism. 

Organisers, such as the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), say they maintain good communication with the Metropolitan Police to ensure the protests go smoothly and give plenty of notice to police before marches go ahead, evidence that was presented to the committee but appears to have been ignored.

"Usually when we are anticipating the sort of numbers attending marches we have done over the past four months, then we actually require far more than six days to prepare those marches, people are coming in from across the country and so have to book coaches," Ben Jamal, director of the PSC, told The New Arab.

"So the reality is that on virtually all of the marches we've given the police more than six days notice period so it is an entirely unnecessary requirement from the MPs."

The committee issued a report saying that policing the Gaza war protests between 7 October and 17 December 2023 cost taxpayers £25 million putting the most sustained pressure on the police since the 2012 London Olympics.

"Should these protests continue indefinitely, it stands to reason that forces will be less able to carry out the everyday neighbourhood and response policing that is so vital to the public," the report said.

"If the protests continue to take place as frequently at this scale, the Home Office should consider amending requirements for protest organisers, such as increasing the notice period for protest organisers to inform the police from the current six days, to allow the police to prepare better."

Ben Jamal points out that despite huge numbers of people turning out for some 900 Gaza marches since October, the police have made only around 289 arrests.

"There have been fewer people arrested at each one of these demonstrations than at an average music festival with much larger numbers of people attending," he said.

London's Metropolitan Police declined to comment on the Select Committee recommendations.

He also said that right-wing political pressure had seen the unnecessary use of Section 12, 14 and 60 orders by the police, although there appear to be few signs the protests will cease given Israel's continued assault on Gaza with 30,000 Palestinians now killed and reports of death by starvation in the enclave.

Activists protested outside parliament last week when MPS voted on whether to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, with scandal following unorthodox moves by the speaker during the reading of the motion. 

The anti-BDS bill is also progressing through the UK parliament, viewed as another assault on the right to peacefully protest Israel's occupation of the occupied Palestinian territory.