Rishi Sunak has demanded that the Metropolitan Police makes “robust use” of all its powers to protect next weekend’s Remembrance events from being disrupted by a pro-Palestinian protest.
The Prime Minister wrote to Sir Mark Rowley, the Met Police commissioner, on Friday to argue that the force had “the powers necessary” to ensure that protests did not “disrupt or disturb” acts of Remembrance.
Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary, has called for a planned march on Saturday Nov 11 to be stopped, saying it would be “entirely unacceptable to desecrate Armistice Day with a hate march through London”.
On Friday night, Mark Harper, the Transport Secretary, intervened to ban a sit-in for Gaza at King’s Cross station in London because of the risk to train services, but hundreds still attended.
Mr Sunak said there was a “clear and present risk that the Cenotaph and other war memorials could be desecrated” if the protest on Armistice Day went ahead. » | Daniel Martin, Deputy Political Editor; Robert Mendick, Chief Reporter and Will Bolton, Crime Correspondent | Friday, November 3, 2023
