4,000 officers prepare for day of protest in central London

On Wednesday, 13 May Deputy Assistant Commissioner James Harman delivered a briefing to media on the planned public order operation in London Saturday, 16 May.

A transcript of his remarks is below:

"Saturday which has the potential to be one of the busiest days for policing in London in recent years.

"Our plan involves the most assertive possible use of our powers including strict conditions. Thousands of officers will be deployed, taking a zero-tolerance approach supported by specialist resources including live facial recognition, helicopters, drones, dog units, police horses, armoured vehicles and dedicated investigative teams.

"We’ll be policing two significant and potentially challenging protests in the centre of the city as well as the FA Cup Final which takes place at Wembley on the same day.

"We do so at a time of continued global instability which we know has the potential to fuel tension and play out on the streets of London.

"The terrorism threat level has been raised to severe and in recent weeks and months we have seen a terrorist attack and a sustained campaign of arsons targeting Jewish Londoners against a backdrop of increasing hate crime, in particular antisemitism.

"Fears in Jewish communities are particularly heightened, but we have also seen increased concerns more broadly, including in Muslim communities.

"Taken together, these factors give us significant cause for concern heading into the weekend and require a policing plan that provides us with the most assertive grip on the movement of large groups and the potential for disorder and other criminality that arises as a result.

"The first of the two major protests is being held to mark Nakba Day. It is an annual protest organised by a coalition of groups including the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Stop the War and others. This year they will be joined by Stand Up To Racism who are opposing the Unite the Kingdom march that I’ll move onto in a moment.

"The Nakba Day protest will form up in Exhibition Road in Kensington before heading to Waterloo Place via Brompton Road and Piccadilly. A rally with speeches will take place at the end point of the march.

"There have been more than 33 large protests organised by the groups that make up the Palestine Coalition since October 2023. They typically involve a very broad range of people whose specific motives and allegiances differ greatly.

"While many come with good intentions and no desire to commit offences or spread hate, many others do not.

"We have routinely seen arrests for racially and religiously aggravated public order offences, for stirring up racial hatred and for supporting terrorist organisations. It is not normal to see criminality of this nature or on this scale at what are billed as peaceful protests.

"We have had to intervene to change the route for 21 out of the 33 protests. On 17 of those occasions that intervention was necessary to protect Jewish communities because the organisers were trying to assemble near, march past or finish near synagogues. These marches always take place on Saturdays which is the Jewish holy day, when Jews are attending religious services. This only adds to the fears already being felt.

"These persistent attempts to assemble and march in this way, together with the prevalence of hate crime and support for terrorism, has led many Jewish Londoners to feel intimidated and afraid of these protests.

"Many feel forced to change their behaviour as a result – avoiding travelling into central London, using public transport, wearing clothing or other items that identify them as Jewish. Nobody should be forced to take such steps to feel safe in London.

"The second large protest taking place on Saturday is also one which gives us cause for concern.

"It is the latest in a series of protests organised under the ‘Unite the Kingdom’ banner in the name of Stephen Yaxley Lennon who is better known as Tommy Robinson.

"This time the protest will form up in Kingsway before heading to Whitehall via Aldwych and the Strand. A rally will take place with a stage set up in Parliament Square.

"These protests have also seen a real mixture of attendees with differing motives. Among the crowds we have seen many peaceful attendees, but also anti-Muslim chanting and incidents where people have been arrested for religiously and racially aggravated offences.

"At the Unite the Kingdom protest in September last year, there was violence in multiple locations when protesters attacked police officers and tried to reach opposing groups who were part of a counter protest. There were arrests for violence both during and after the event and we continue to have more than 50 outstanding and unidentified suspects for offences on that day.

"The nature and scale of these protests has left Muslim communities and those from other ethnic minority groups feeling scared. Much like the impact on Jewish Londoners on days when Palestine Coalition protests are taking place, we know Muslim Londoners and others who feel vulnerable avoid central London, and in particular transport hubs, changing their plans because they worry about crossing paths with Unite the Kingdom supporters.

"In addition, the FA Cup Final at Wembley brings with it an additional challenge. It will see tens of thousands of visiting fans travelling into and across London which in itself requires a sizeable policing plan.

"Whenever significant numbers of football fans are in close proximity to each other there are also risks of disorder that need to be managed.

"We also need to be mindful of the history of football hooligan groups supporting causes fronted by Stephen Yaxley Lennon. There are no professional men’s games in England on that day other than the FA Cup Final which increases the likelihood of those groups travelling into London to join his rally.

"This combination of risk and complexity leaves us no choice but to implement a policing plan that imposes the highest degree of control on all groups intending to protest and move about central London on Saturday.

"The scale of the operation is unprecedented in recent years. The planning for it has been ongoing for months.

"As part of that planning, we have been in ongoing discussions with organisers from both groups. We have been clear since the outset that we would not accept march routes or rally locations that would increase the risk of intimidation to any particular community or that would risk the two protests coming together.

"This has been achieved on paper but it now falls to us to deploy very significant resources onto the streets of London to put the policing plan into effect and to keep those groups with opposing views apart.

"Approximately 4,000 officers will be part of the public order policing operation across London. This will include 660 officers from other police forces across England and Wales.

"In addition to the officers you see out on foot, there will be specialist traffic units, mounted officers, police dogs, police helicopters, drone teams and detectives whose job it is to investigate offences that take place at protests. Officers will have full access to their protective public order equipment, should they need it, and we will have specialist armed vehicles available for use as a very high level contingency option.

"We are also taking an assertive and proactive approach to using the powers available to us in law.

"The tests for us imposing Public Order Act conditions are clearly met in relation to both protests:

"The risk of serious disruption to communities and the risk of serious disorder.

"The conditions in place will require both groups to form up only in the locations agreed with the police in advance. They must only set off at the time set out in the conditions and must stick to the specific agreed routes. Any post-march rallies must only take place in a pre-agreed area and must finish by an agreed time.

"Anyone who breaches these conditions, or who encourages others to do so, can be arrested.

"For the first time we’ve also imposed conditions relating to the speakers at these protests. These conditions make the organisers responsible for ensuring speakers they invite don’t break the law by using these events as a platform for unlawful extremism or hate speech. Both the speakers and the organisers will face consequences if that happens.

"This complements the work being done by the Home Office to remove permission to travel to the UK from those whose presence they did not feel was conducive to the public good.

"We will impose further conditions if necessary.

"We’re also using dispersal orders so officers can direct anyone intent on causing trouble to leave central London or face arrest, and we’re giving officers more search powers and the power to order the removal of face coverings using Section 60 and Section 60AA of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act.

"In the wake of the terror attack targeting Jews at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, we committed to taking a more assertive approach to chanting and the displaying of phrases on placards or banners that incite hatred or indicate support for terrorism or other forms of extremism.

"In recent months we’ve arrested and charged people for calling for intifada at protests and a number of those cases are going through the courts.

"In recent days, we have charged a man who directed chants of ‘death to the IDF’ towards a group of Jewish people outside a concert in London last November.

"As the context changes – with terrorist attacks, communities being targeted with violence simply for who they are and hate crime rising – the response of the whole criminal justice system needs to change too and we are working with our counterparts to achieve this.

"For example, the CPS has announced that the progression of hate crime cases will be accelerated from charge to court and we’ve seen examples of this in recent days.

"We’re also in discussions with them to collectively reflect on language that prosecutors have previously advised didn’t meet the threshold for prosecution to see if that position may now change.

"Given the context we’re operating in, the public expect our officers to act where they see or hear antisemitism, anti-Muslim abuse, incitement to violence or language that clearly points to support for terrorists.

"We will be arresting for these offences where we see them on Saturday and our specialist investigators will be working overnight to present the cases to the CPS for immediate charges wherever possible.

"Not all language we are targeting relates to antisemitism or the conflict in the middle east. Officers will also take action against the anti-Muslim hate we have heard at past protests where it crosses into criminality.

"We are mindful that this is thousands of people. Where we see crime we will intervene robustly, wherever physically possible to do so. If crime comes to our attention later, we will investigate post-event and track down those responsible.

"This Saturday is also the first time we will be using live facial recognition as part of a protest policing operation. It will be deployed in the London borough of Camden in an area likely to be used by those attending the Unite the Kingdom event.

"The event is expected to attract significant numbers and we have intelligence which indicates that there is likely to be a threat to public safety from some who might be in attendance. LFR won’t be deployed within the assembly or rally points of either protest or on the route itself.

"The cameras are comparing the faces of those walking past with the faces of those on a specific watch list. If a potential match isn’t detected the biometrics are deleted in just seconds and cannot be recovered.

"We are well aware that in recent weeks there have been calls for either one or both of these protests to be banned.

"The task of deciding how the law should balance the rights of protesters against those of communities is for Parliament, not the police. It is for Parliament to consider whether the laws in relation to protest are sufficient or need to be changed.

"The former Director of Public Prosecutions, Lord Ken Macdonald, was asked by the Home Secretary to conduct a review on this matter and we have contributed to his work.

"We understand he will report back in the coming weeks and changes may come as a result of his findings, but for now we can only police these protests to the limit of the laws in place today and that is what we have done.

"The Public Order Act does give us the power to seek a ban, but only if officers believe there is a risk of disorder so serious that it cannot be dealt with by the application of conditions as part of a wider policing plan.

"This banning power only applies to marches and not static assemblies. If used the most likely outcome is it turns a march into a static protest.

"Our considered judgement is that our policing plan – with its extensive deployment of resources and stringent use of conditions and other powers – can deal with the risk of serious disorder as effectively as if there was a ban.

"Such a plan inevitably comes at a cost. At a time when the Met is facing a strain on its budgets and having to do more with less, we are facing a likely cost in the region of £4.5m for this operation when opportunity costs are factored in.

"£1.7m of that will be spent on bringing officers in from around the country.

"We’re also forced to strip officers away from fighting crime in neighbourhoods across London. A substantial portion of the Met officers on duty would ordinarily have been working in their core frontline policing roles, demonstrating how the cost to London involved in policing protest is much more than a financial one.

"In concluding I’ll return to where I started.

"This has the potential to be a very busy day for policing.

"We will police without fear or favour and facilitate the right to lawful protest, but we will deal swiftly and decisively with anyone who thinks they can come to London on Saturday to abuse that right by committing crime, causing intimidation or stirring up hatred towards people based on their religion or race."

Full details of the conditions in place:

Unite the Kingdom

Section 14(3) Public Order Act 1986

Any person participating in the Unite the Kingdom protest must remain in the area shaded on the map below (Kingsway) until the procession begins along the prescribed route.

Section 12(3) Public Order Act 1986

Anyone participating in the Unite the Kingdom march must not deviate from the route shown on the map below which is Kingsway, Aldwych, Strand, Trafalgar Square, Whitehall, Parliament Square.

Section 14(3) Public Order Act 1986

Any person participating in the Unite the Kingdom post-march assembly must remain within the shaded area on the map below.

Any stage being used for the Unite the Kingdom post-march assembly must be in the location specified on the map below.

Any speeches and/or music being performed/played as part of the Unite The Kingdom post-march assembly must conclude by 17:30hrs.

The Unite the Kingdom assembly must conclude by 18:00hrs.

Organisers and those individuals addressing the Unite The Kingdom assembly must ensure that all content displayed and broadcast as part of the assembly (including speeches, pre-recorded videos and imagery) does not include content that is likely to stir up racial or religious hatred as defined by law.

Nakba 78/United Against Tommy Robinson and the Far Right

Section 14(3) Public Order Act 1986

Any person participating in the Nakba 78/United Against Tommy Robinson and the Far Right protest must remain in the shaded area on the map below (Exhibition Road) until the procession begins along the prescribed route.

Section 12(3) Public Order Act 1986

Anyone participating in the Nakba 78/United Against Tommy Robinson and the Far Right march must not deviate from the route shown on the map below which is Exhibition Road, Cromwell Gardens, Brompton Road, Knightsbridge, Piccadilly, Pall Mall.

Section 14(3) Public Order Act 1986

Any person participating in the ‘Nakba 78/United Against Tommy Robinson and the Far Right’ post-march assembly must remain within the shaded area on the map below.

Any stage being used for the ‘Nakba 78/United Against Tommy Robinson and the Far Right’ post-march assembly must be in the location shaded in blue on the map below.

Any speeches and/or music being performed/played as part of the ‘Nakba 78/United Against Tommy Robinson and the Far Right’ post-march assembly must conclude by 17:00hrs.

The ‘Nakba 78/United Against Tommy Robinson and the Far Right’ assembly must conclude by 17:30hrs.

Organisers and those individuals addressing the ‘Nakba 78/United Against Tommy Robinson and the Far Right’ post-march assembly must ensure that all content displayed and broadcast as part of the assembly (including speeches, pre-recorded videos and imagery) does not include content that is likely to stir up racial or religious hatred as defined in law.