Eyewitness: Palestine protests and Albanian celebration

Chris Hobbs attends more controversial protests in the capital and a celebration of national identity.

After the controversy surrounding the London’s farmer’s protest where the Met were severely criticised for their late decision to ban tractors from central London, it was back to the more familiar Saturday scenario of a pro-Palestine protest organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

However, although more than 30 of these large marches have been held since the 7th of October matter, this too was controversial. The Met, as expected, imposed conditions on the marchers which could be found the day before, buried on their website. These conditions were placed upon social media on the Saturday at 11.43AM; just 27 minutes before the marchers were due to assemble.

Unlike previous PSC protests, the Met did not impose conditions on the usual opponents of these events; the pro-Israeli Stop the Hate group. This was because, in the controversial aftermath of a Sunday pro-Palestinian protest close to St. John’s Wood Synagogue, Stop the Hate withdrew all cooperation from police. They also indicated that those wishing to engage in a counter-protest should do so wherever they chose on the route.

Cooperation terminated

In fact, on numerous occasions in the past, a small group of pro-Israeli activists have ‘inserted’ themselves in the midst of pro-Palestine protesters hoping to provoke a reaction. This caused concern that this course of action might occur again but with greater numbers involved. However, the only incident of note occurred when several pro-Palestinian masked youths set off exploding rockets on a section of the march when there was no police presence. This was not appreciated by other protesters in the vicinity.

The only opposition to the march occurred in Trafalgar Square when around 30 pro-Israeli protesters formed up in two groups by Nelson’s column. This meant there was quite a considerable distance between the marching pro-Palestinians and their rivals. Several marchers individually left the PSC contingent and attempted to remonstrate with the pro-Israeli group but were intercepted by police and directed back to the ranks of their fellow protesters.

Tensions

One incident which quickly gained traction on social media, purported to show a middle-aged pro-Palestinian protester ‘attacking’ a female Israeli supporter who was displaying a Union flag. She was in possession of a large speaker on a trolly and was playing ‘suitable’ music. In fact, the offending protester was trying to drag the speaker away. He was quickly apprehended by police while other officers could be seen rushing to the scene. The ‘assailant’ was escorted back to the march but this led to social media outrage with claims that the male had ‘attacked’ the female which in turn led to later social media allegations of two-tier policing due to the fact that the man wasn’t arrested.

Individuals from the pro-Israeli group spent most of the afternoon via a megaphone, launching several diatribes against the Met in respect of, yet again, two tier policing which they claim, favours the pro Palestine side.

Section 14 of the Public Order Act also came under fierce criticism with speakers advocating its abolition. This effectively allows police to impose conditions on protests which include those designed to keep rival groups apart. Presumably those advocating its abolition would be in favour of a coming together of pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli groups.

Another incident occurred when a male was intercepted by a City of London Police Liaison Officer as he was striding towards the pro-Israeli group. This male seemed to think that police officers are not allowed to push people in order to prevent a breach of the peace thus we saw a ‘badge number’ demand and an announcement that a complaint would be made.

A degree of overestimation

In terms of disorder, the day went well with just a handful of arrests although one was for an affray that involved a pair of scissors. The march organiser provoked a few chuckles from officers when he announced to those at the post-march Whitehall rally that 100,000 individuals had taken to London’s streets. The real figure was probably closer to 10,000 but still a commendable turnout given the over-pessimistic weather forecast, the proximity to Christmas and the fact that elsewhere in the UK protesters were being arrested for openly showing support for the proscribed group Palestine Action.

Albanian Independence Day celebrations

The evening before the PSC protest, visitors to the South Bank may have been puzzled to observe a large policing operation focussed on the area around the London Eye. The occasion was the annual celebration of Albanian independence and fears that disorder seen during previous anniversaries may be repeated.

On one occasion rival Albanian gangs fought a pitched battle in Trafalgar Square while another saw police officers attacked.

Around 200 revellers made their way from Trafalgar Square to the very poorly lit area close to the London Eye. Other than some abuse when police ordered a sound system to be dismantled, relations with ‘kitted’ officers were generally good.

A Section 35 dispersal order was placed on the gathering at around 9PM which resulted in some revellers heading homewards while others walked to Trafalgar Square which itself was producing a cacophony of noise with flag bedecked cars driving around sounding their horns. Anticipating convoys of vehicles, a very visible feature of the evening was the presence of a number of police traffic patrol motor-cyclists which prompted information from a reliable source that they too were about to suffer significant cutbacks.

Doubtless protest weary Met officers and their City and BTP partners will now be hoping that the festive season will ensure that they will be able to spend more time policing their local areas rather than standing on cordons, sitting in carriers or being on the receiving end of protest abuse and distorted, misleading social and mainstream media comment.

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

Category: Public Order