TRADE UnIONS, MPs and celebrities have condemned the attempt by the Metropolitan Police to ban this Saturday’s National March for Palestine from assembling outside the BBC headquarters as scheduled (see ad this page).
Six pro-Palestinian groups are organising the national Palestine march, which is being supported by at least 150 high-profile individuals and organisations, including Liberty, Amnesty International UK, and Greenpeace.
In a joint statement issued last Friday, they said the Met is misusing public order powers to shield the BBC from public scrutiny over fake news published about the ongoing Israeli genocidal war against the Gaza Strip.
They said: ‘The route for the march was confirmed with the police nearly two months ago and as agreed with them, was publicly announced on November 30th … With just over a week to go, the Metropolitan Police is reneging on the agreement and has stated its intention to prevent the protest from going ahead as planned.
‘The BBC is a major institution – it is a publicly-funded state broadcaster and is rightly accountable to the public.
‘The police should not be misusing public order powers to shield the BBC from democratic scrutiny,’ the statement said.
The statement was signed by dozens of British parliamentarians, and cultural figures, including actors, academics and trade union activists.
Jeremy Corbyn, Diane Abbott, musician Brian Eno, and actors Mark Rylance and Maxine Peake were among the signatories of the statement, in addition to PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote, RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch, the NEU’s Daniel Kebede, FBU leader Matt Wrack, and trade union leader Dave Ward.
The statement condemned attempts to link the pro-Palestinian protests to anti-Jewish sentiment as ‘false and dangerous’.
Last Thursday, the organisers issued a statement, which concluded: ‘We remain in dialogue with the Metropolitan Police but call on them to immediately abandon their intention to prevent our protest at the BBC.
‘We call on all those who are rightly outraged by Israel’s ongoing genocide and those who uphold the democratic right to protest to join us when we march in London on Saturday 18 January.
‘Palestine Solidarity Campaign
‘Palestinian Forum in Britain
‘Friends of Al-Aqsa
‘Stop the War Coalition
‘Muslim Association of Britain
‘Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.’