We have met with the Metropolitan Police today after they declared their intention to use draconian powers to prevent our planned protest at the BBC on Portland Place on Saturday 18 January. Regrettably, the response of the police has made abundantly clear that the real aim is to block us from protesting at the BBC under any circumstances.
The initial excuse offered by the police – which we entirely reject – was that allowing our march to assemble at the BBC, as previously agreed, risked disruption to morning services at a nearby synagogue. In fact, the nearest synagogue to the BBC is not even on the march route and there has never been any threat to any place of worship linked to any of our protests, all of which are attended by large numbers of Jewish people.
Yesterday, we announced our plan to reverse the protest route and assemble on Whitehall – a proposal originally made by the police themselves – while calling for these repressive restrictions to be rescinded allowing us to arrive at the BBC in the afternoon. In our meeting today, the police acknowledged that the synagogue service would finish at 1pm – approximately two hours before we plan to reach the BBC. Unfortunately, the response we have received from the police is indicative of bad faith on their part.
In place of the previous arguments concerning the synagogue, the police have now introduced new and dubious justifications for banning our protest from the vicinity of the BBC. This includes the claim that the march would interfere with the ability of the ordinary residents of Portland Place to park their cars – an argument that could equally apply to any protest route in any part of London. Even so, we also made clear that we would be willing to hold our main rally at the start of the march, ending with a short symbolic protest to minimise the time spent on Portland Place.
In addition, the police have chosen to advance the spurious suggestion that we hold our march on a day other than a Saturday – the day on which all major demonstrations in London are held – something which everybody knows would not be possible on anything like the same scale.
During the meeting, the police confirmed that they are seeking to impose an effective ban on protests in support of Palestinian rights at the BBC on any Saturday. Disgracefully, they explicitly conceded that this proscription would not apply to those protesting for other causes including pro-Israel demonstrations.
Furthermore, in their reply to us, the police have falsely claimed that ‘influential supporters and organisers’ of the march ‘have explicitly encouraged attendees to contravene the conditions imposed.’ When pushed they were not able to back up this outrageous suggestion and accepted that no statement from the coalition has made such a call.
The inconsistent and dishonest arguments put forward by the police indicate that the true purpose of these restrictions is to prevent us from organising a large-scale protest outside the BBC. It is unacceptable for the police to abuse their powers to discriminate, suppress freedom of expression and shield the BBC from democratic scrutiny.
We call on all those who oppose Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza and those who uphold the right to protest, to join us in London at 12 noon on Saturday 18 January. We will assemble in Whitehall, and we will march in an orderly fashion towards the BBC. We reiterate our call for the Metropolitan Police to drop these repressive, discriminatory and anti-democratic tactics and accept our right to demonstrate at the BBC.