A successful day of public order policing that still resulted in controversy

The arrest of an individual waving the Union Flag has, once again, spawned allegations of ‘two-tier’ policing and contributed to imagery of a city paralysed by protests, writes Chris Hobbs.

Those Met, City of London and British Transport Police officers engaged in policing protest and other events in London across a busy Saturday probably knew better than to congratulate themselves on a job well done as they unwound on Saturday evening.

Like Groundhog Day, central London witnessed the familiar sight of a pro-Palestinian protest which, on this occasion, concluded with speeches close to the Israeli Embassy. The numbers have shrunk since the early days and are now around a consistent 10,000; still a formidable number which, given the raw emotions on all sides, requires balanced, sensitive policing.

There was initial controversy as another planned protest meant that the Met had imposed a later start time as part of the conditions which resulted in protest from the various pro-Palestinian groups involved. The cancellation of that protest meant that the pro-Palestinian march was designated an earlier acceptable start time.

I opted to have a look first at an anti-Globalisation, anti-World Economic Forum protest at Marble Arch that included a myriad of other causes before walking down to Hyde Park Corner where around 200 protesters waited to join the main march as it arrived from Pall Mall.

When that main march arrived, it halted for a while which gave me the opportunity to get ahead of the crowd, looking for possible counter-protesters along the route. I was unable to find any reference to a pro-Israeli counter-protest and in the past, small ‘pop-up’ counter-protests have occurred in the absence of a main static event.

Foul mouthed rap

Eventually I reached the pro-Palestinian stage which was situated on Kensington Road which itself acted as a partial barrier to Kensington High Street and the gates which lead to the Israeli Embassy. Pedestrians could still pass on the footways controlled by police but barriers prevented any large-scale movement.

As I approached the stage, pre-rally music was being played which appeared to be linked to Palestine. However, that changed when the ‘DJ’ put on some sort of harsh rap track which included frequent use of the ‘N’ and ‘F’ words and suggestions that police officers be killed. This was noticed by officers and it would seem the track also took the less than happy organisers by surprise. There was no repetition.

Counter-protest

Beyond the stage and just beyond the gates which lead to the Israeli Embassy, was the pro-Israeli counter-protest and its plethora of blue and white national flags punctuated by the occasional Union Jack. I was curious as to why the counter-protesters were not behind steel barriers as is usual. The reason was simple; the barriers that should have been there simply hadn’t turned up. As one officer pointed out, there would surely have to be a cake fine somewhere along the line.

Instead, the 300 or so pro-Israeli protesters stood behind a police cordon and seemed in jovial mood. At no stage during the course of the afternoon, was any attempt made to push through the cordon in order to approach the pro-Palestinian rally.

However, pedestrians were still able to pass on the footway and these included some who were heading from High Street Kensington Station to the rally. At one stage several girls sporting Palestinian flags were pursued by a male with a Union Jack flag wrapped around his waist and abused before police intervened.

About five protesters from the group also engaged in shouting at the small numbers of pro-Palestinian protesters, as they made their way towards the stage. It should be stressed however that these were a tiny minority of the counter-protesters who were noisy and almost in a party mood with frequent bouts of singing and dancing thus entertaining the watching officers and passing members of the public.

The other rally followed a familiar pattern of speeches and chanting and finished in a generally orderly fashion with those present being informed that the next national protest would be scheduled for September 21 in Liverpool to coincide with the Labour party conference. The next London march is proposed for the 12th October which may be welcome news for the Met’s public order planners in that it leaves a gap of a few days from the anniversary of October 7. Certainly, there were concerns that pro-Palestine protests on Monday the 7th or the preceding weekend could be interpreted as a celebration for the appalling Hamas massacre.

Dispersal

The pro-Israeli rally concluded with ‘God save the King’ and the nearby High Street Kensington station saw a BTP OSU (Operational Support Unit) presence to ensure a trouble-free dispersal.

Most pro-Palestinian supporters also dispersed quickly but as I walked back towards Knightsbridge, a small, vociferous crowd of 100 chanting, ‘let her go,’ indicated an arrest. The crowd followed the police ‘bubble’ to a nearby prisoner van and as she being placed into the ‘cage’ there were cries of ‘Sarah Everard.’

Thus, it appeared that yet another major pro-Palestinian protest and counter-protest had taken place without any serious incident or disorder. It would seem that the rival pro-life and pro-abortion protests in and around Parliament Square had passed off without incident as had the above-mentioned gathering at Marble Arch.

Another event, Black on the Square, which took place in Trafalgar Square and is an annual celebration of black culture and music, saw, as last year, no issues.

Controversy

However, perhaps almost inevitably, there was controversy which was duly exploited by those on the right of the political spectrum. At most Palestinian protests, one or both of a pro-Israeli duo can be seen invariably clutching a placard stating ‘Hamas is terrorist’ and they invariably attempt to ‘mingle’ with pro-Palestinian protesters.

The intention appears to be to provoke the pro-Palestinian protesters into violence but most of the crowd ignore one or both of them. Twice I’ve seen poorly aimed blows thrown at the Iranian dissident by middle aged men. On occasion, at the smaller protests, police leave them in situ but surround them in order to ensure that there is no disorder. The dissident has previously been arrested and, on one occasion, de-arrested and both have previously been escorted away from the scenes by police.

On this occasion they must have emerged on the march route after I’d walked past. The footage apparently shows them walking towards the approaching march clutching the familiar ‘Hamas is terrorist’ placard but also a Union Jack flag which would, if police intervened, inevitably result in a feeding frenzy by those on the extreme right and so it has proved.

Both were duly arrested with the dissident asserting on social media that he had some sort of judicial permission to act in this way. This may be linked to Articles 10 and 11 of the Human Rights Act.

It would seem that there is a body of opinion which suggests that those with contrary views have some sort of right to exercise their freedom of speech and expression by mixing or mingling with those who hold diametrically opposing views. Of course, the HRA makes exceptions to these principles; one being the possibility of disorder and indeed, police forces in most civilised countries of the world will invariably segregate rival groups, be they political protesters or rival football fans, if there is any possibility of rivalry leading to disorder.

It’s also worth noting that where the pro-Israeli side hold rallies or similar events, pro-Palestinian ‘infiltrators’ are dealt with and removed and/or arrested by police frequently at the behest of those present.

This incident and the arrest of an individual waving the Union Flag has, once again, spawned allegations of ‘two-tier’ policing and contributed to imagery of a city paralysed and terrorised by these protests.  This not a view held by those officers who police them on a regular basis.

When these protests began, the numbers were huge and officers were prepared for similar levels of violence seen at pro-Palestine protests in 2021 during another Middle East crisis. On several occasions officers were pelted with missiles including builder’s rubble from roadworks.

However, other than the occasional firework thrown at officers, another feature of the pre-Christmas protests were ‘walkabouts’ by groups of several hundred youths after the main protests had finished. Police serials escorted these and there were skirmishes, resulting in arrests.

Since Christmas, there have been a more stringent enforcement of conditions and the use of dispersal orders which has seen the virtual elimination of traffic obstructing ‘walkabouts.’

There has also been a conflation of actions by splinter groups such as Palestinian Action and Youth Demand with the main ‘national’ protests; these have resulted in disruption, damage and injury. Both these groups have, however, seen their activists arrested, the former for serious offences.

Officers, these days, are only too well aware of the possible consequences of an ‘unlawful’ arrest especially if it involves the use of force. These large protests have generally been relatively peaceful.

Despite this, the imagery favoured by sections of the media and those of the extreme right, is that of mobs rampaging through London. As I’ve stated before, the reaction of the public as these marches pass-by is to pull out smartphones and capture the event. It could be argued that it is this exaggerated false narrative that dissuades visitors on protest days; the reality is that there is very little impact on the activities of visitors/tourists unless they are driving vehicles.

Nevertheless, these protests are, as Met senior officers state, a huge drain on resources and look set to continue punctuated by smaller counter-protests organised by those who have made it clear that they don’t welcome the support of the violent elements from the far-right.

Chris Hobbs is a former Special Branch officer who follows protests as an observer for Police Oracle. 

Category: OpsPublic Order