Ministers warn pro-Palestine march on Armistice Day could trigger violence and a wave of anti-Semitism as they up pressure on police to cancel Gaza event in London and Home Secretary Suella Braverman demands prison sentences if Cenotaph is vandalised

Oliver Dowden today piled more pressure on police to block a pro-Palestinian march through London on Armistice Day, warning that it could trigger a wave of violence in the capital.

The Deputy Prime Minister said he had ‘grave concerns’ about allowing the demo to take place on November 11, after four police officers were injured by fireworks at a Trafalgar square protest last night.

Mr Dowden  lashed out at ‘hateful conduct’ by demonstrators and while he  emphasised the ‘operational independence’ of the Metropolitan Police in a round of interviews this morning, he left little doubt that the Government wants the march cancelled.

Fears have been raised that the march could result in the Cenotaph in Whitehall being vandalised, although organisers have pledged to avoid Whitehall, where the monument to the fallen is situated. 

Last night Home secretary Suella Braverman suggested anyone who damaged the military memorial should be jailed ‘faster than their feet can hit the ground’.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has promised to take a ‘robust approach’ and to use ‘all the powers available’ to ensure commemorative events are ‘not undermined’. 

But he has also criticsed the Home Secretary for calling the demonstrations ‘hate marches’, telling the News Agents podcast she had ‘picked two words out the English language and strung them together.’

Speaking to Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips programme, Mr Dowden said: ‘I think that, at a time that is meant to be a solemn remembrance of the sacrifice of previous generations and upholding our British values, I think the police need to think very carefully about the safety of that demonstration, namely whether it could spill over into violent protest and the signal it sends particularly to the Jewish community. 

The Home Secretary lashed out as London was rocked by another day of angry demonstrations which saw fireworks thrown at police in Trafalgar Square, injuring four.

It comes amid growing clamour for a march planned for central London on November 11 to be banned, though police and politicians including Ms Braverman and London mayor Sadiq Khan are arguing over who has the power to do so.

‘Now, I understand that the Met Commissioner continues to keep it under review and I think that is appropriate.’

Asked whether he is sending a signal to the police that the march currently planned for November 11 should be banned, Mr Dowden said: ‘The police are operationally independent.

‘But I do have very grave concerns about that march, both in terms of how it sits with acts of solemn remembrance and the kind of intimidation that is being sent out by the chants and everything else that goes on at those marches.

‘I think it is right that it is the law of the land that the police are operationally independent. But I think it is important that they consider those factors, yes.’

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It came as London was rocked by another day of angry demonstrations which saw fireworks thrown at police in Trafalgar Square, injuring four.

Videos shared on social media of activists travelling to Trafalgar Square – where largely peaceful protests gave way to ugly scenes of pyrotechnics being hurled  amid chants of ‘smash the Zionist settler state’.

Volunteers selling remembrance poppies were also surrounded by protesters inside Charing Cross station, prompting condemnation from veterans minister Johnny Mercer, who offered to ‘rattle a tin’ with the charitable trio.

And families leaving a McDonald’s in the capital were hounded amid a row over Israeli franchised restaurants giving free and discounted food to IDF soldiers. 

Labour today declined to call for the march to be banned but said that it should stay away from the cenotaph and not take place around 11am, when a two-minute silence is observed to commemorate Britain’s war dead.

Shadow defence secretary John Healey told Sky News: ‘If the police decided they didn’t want to go ahead under what is the 1986 legislation it will be for the Home Secretary to take that decision. I hope that won’t be necessary. 

‘I believe it should be possible to manage both the proper respect and the conduct of the Remembrance parade around the Cenotaph and allow the protesters concerned about what’s going on in Gaza and the loss of Palestinian lives to undertake their protest at a different time in a different part of London.’

In an interview with Sky News filmed earlier on Saturday, Ms Braverman declined to say the march would be banned, but added: ‘If anyone were to vandalise the Cenotaph, they must be put into a jail cell faster than their feet can touch the ground.

Mr  Dowden attacked pro-Palestinian demonstrators, questioning why there had not been the ‘same kind of moral clarity’ shown after the Hamas attacks as that witnessed after George Floyd was killed in the US. 

Speaking to Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips programme, Mr Dowden said: ‘We shouldn’t see this just as a matter for the Jewish community.

READ MORE: Dismayed poppy sellers surrounded by pro-Palestinian protesters, a crowd chanting ‘shame on you’ at child leaving McDonald’s and tube passengers shouting ‘smash the Zionist state’ – as Met makes 29 arrests 

‘We should see this is as a matter for all of British society. It is not acceptable to our British values that there should be that kind of intimidation.

‘And I have to say to you that I am a bit disappointed that if you look at the moral indignation and the clarity that we saw after the murder of George Floyd in the United States with the Black Lives Matter movement, we haven’t seen, across civic society, the same kind of moral clarity showing that Jewish lives matter.

‘I think that is a cause of hurt to the Jewish community and it is something that disappoints me as well. I see it, whether it is on our campuses or elsewhere, we need to send a very clear signal that Jewish people are safe in this country, not just for the sake of Jewish people but for the sake of British society.’

He added: ‘People need to understand that antisemitism is racism, full stop. And the same abhorrence that we show to other forms of racism, we should show towards antisemitism.’

Ms Braverman, who has previously branded London’s Gaza demos as ‘hate marches’, added that Armistice Day should be treated with the ‘solemnity with which it deserves’.

The Metropolitan Police says it has arrested 29 people in connection with crimes ranging from terrorism offences to breaching a dispersal order that was enacted by the force after fireworks were hurled at officers, injuring four.

The growing death toll since Hamas’s deadly raids on October 7 has sparked a host of protests in the UK, with thousands of pro-Palestinian supporters taking to the streets of London, Glasgow and Belfast on Saturday to demand a ceasefire.

The British Transport Police confirmed it was making inquiries into anti-Israel chanting on the tube network by demonstrators in the capital, with some protesters calling for revolution against Tel Aviv.

In one video highlighted to the Metropolitan Police on X, formerly known as Twitter, what appear to be pro-Palestinian supporters can be heard chanting: ‘Smash the Zionist settler state.’

A 24-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of a racially aggravated offence after footage was posted on social media which appeared to show a man praising Hamas, the Met said.

Police arrested 29 people on Saturday in connection with various alleged offences linked to the pro-Palestine protests

Dismayed British Royal Legion poppy sellers could only look on after pro-Palestine protesters engaged in a sit-in protest at Charing Cross station

Hamas is proscribed as a terror organisation in the UK and support for it is banned.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Home Secretary Suella Braverman have expressed concern about the prospect of further pro-Palestine protests next Saturday, November 11, during Armistice Day.

Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has promised to take a ‘robust approach’ and to use ‘all the powers available’ to ensure commemorative events are ‘not undermined’.

But demonstration organisers in London have pledged to avoid the Whitehall area where the Cenotaph war memorial – the focus of national remembrance events – is located.

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign is due to meet with the Met on Monday to discuss the operation and the potential route for next weekend’s demonstrations.

After 30 days of war, Israel continued its brutal attack on Hamas overnight, with IDF jets striking a ‘terror base’, troops fighting militants at ‘close quarters’ and dismantling part of the group’s tunnel network in northern Gaza. 

Nearly a month after the worst attack in the country’s history, Israel, who sent troops into the narrow Palestinian territory last month, has managed to strike ‘over 2,500 terror targets’ by ‘ground air and naval forces’, the army said on Sunday.

In a statement, it said ground soldiers were engaged in ‘close-quarters combat’ as Israeli jets were striking targets including a ‘Hamas military compound’ at an undisclosed location overnight.

Video shared to the IDF’s social media also revealed them uncovering one of the terror groups hidden tunnels, long been viewed as a major security challenge, used in the past for smuggling and incursions into Israel, as well as a serious obstacle for Israeli forces attempting to operate in Gaza. 

‘While Hamas obstructs their civilians from getting to safety in southern Gaza, Hamas hides within their intricate network of terror tunnels.

‘IDF troops uncovered multiple access points during operational activity in Northern Gaza’, they posted to X in the early hours of Sunday. 

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