The Campaign Against Antisemitism has levelled fresh criticism at Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley after the Board of Deputies thanked him for the force’s handling of the weekend’s pro-Palestinian protest in London.
Demonstrators staged a rally in Whitehall on Saturday after dropping their original plan to gather outside the BBC headquarters because police said it would be too near Central Synagogue on a Shabbat.
However, in the wake of dozens of arrests at the event — mostly for alleged breaches of a containment zone — the CAA repeated its calls for such protests to be banned altogether.
On Sunday, Rowley, in an address to the Board in person, said the CAA’s demands ignored “the reality of the law”. There was “no power in law to ban these protests,” he explained to deputies.
But now the CAA has hit back, claiming that the Commissioner had “endless excuses, constantly blaming the law or his budgets, but he has found nearly £100m to police these protests inadequately, and he conveniently keeps forgetting section 13 of the Public Order Act, entitled ‘Prohibiting public processions’, which the then-Home Secretary invited him to use soon after the weekly marches began.”
Section 13 allows the Met commissioner, in conjunction with the Home Secretary, to issue an order banning any specified class of “public procession” within the Met’s jurisdiction, with the threat of custodial sentences for those organising marches in defiance of it.
This can only be done if the commissioner and Secretary of State agree that their powers under the Act short of a ban are insufficient to prevent “serious public disorder” and can last no longer than three months.
A spokesman for the campaign group said, “We do not see the law as we would wish it, we see the law as it is, if only he would stop jousting with us and get on with enforcing it.
“Last weekend was an admission that these weekly marches should never have been allowed near synagogues and that Sir Mark has had the power to intervene all along. He didn’t suddenly get new legal powers.
“Even with a week to plan though, Sir Mark did not send enough officers to hold a basic cordon. This chaos has gone on for over 15 months now. London deserves a commissioner who is willing to use the law to maintain order on our streets.”
Approached for a response, the Met referred to comments previously made by Commander Adam Slonecki, who led the policing operation in London at the weekend.
In a briefing, he had explained: “The role of the police is to ensure that groups can exercise their right to peaceful protest, while also balancing the rights of those in the wider community to go about their lives without serious disruption.
“It is not our role to give permission for protests, but we can use our powers under the Public Order Act to apply conditions to control start and finish times, routes, form up points and other details where necessary. Since October 2023 we have used these powers proactively on more occasions than at any other point in recent history.”
Last year, CAA chief executive Gideon Falter called on Rowley to resign after an incident in which he was not allowed to cross a road through a pro-Palestinian demonstration because of what a Met officer said was his “openly Jewish” appearance. Falter was wearing a kippah and carrying a tallit bag at the time.
On Sunday, Board president Phil Rosenberg told the Commissioner that the community owed the force “a huge amount of appreciation” for ensuring that the latest march had not take place near a synagogue.
