Organisers of pro-Palestine marches have said Keir Starmer’s threat to ban some demonstrations opposing Israel’s actions in the Middle East will “strike at the root of free assembly and free speech” in the UK. On Saturday morning, the prime minister told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that “there are instances” in which he would support stopping some pro-Palestine protests altogether.
Starmer said he also wanted the language expressed on some protest marches to be subjected to “tougher action”, including the chant “globalise the intifada”. Intifada is an Arabic word that translates to uprising or “shaking off”. Some pro-Palestine voices use the phrase as an expression of solidarity with Palestinians resisting Israeli occupation while some Jewish groups and leaders have described it as a call to violence.
John Rees, co-founder and national officer for the Stop the War coalition, which helps organise large pro-Palestine demonstrations in central London, considered Starmer’s comments a “threat” against his coalition’s own protests. Speaking to Sky News, Rees said a ban would “strike at the root of free assembly and free speech in this country”. He added: “I don’t think that people in this country are minded to say: ‘Oh, well, we did it once, and that didn’t work. So we’re now going home.’”
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch called for pro-Palestine marches to be banned altogether on Saturday afternoon, claiming “they are used as a cover for promoting violence and intimidation against Jews”. Rees said: “We have to be absolutely clear here, there is no threat whatsoever to the Jewish community from these marches. In fact, they are attended by thousands of Jewish people who disapprove of the actions of the government and disapprove of the actions of the State of Israel.”
Defend Our Juries, which organises demonstrations where people express support for the proscribed group Palestine Action, responded to Starmer’s comments on X, saying: “End the genocide, not our freedoms to oppose it.” Starmer stressed his suggestion some protest marches could be banned was “not a discussion that has only been had this week in response to this awful incident. That is a discussion we’ve been having with the police for some time”.
Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan police commissioner, told the Times on Friday night that he did not agree with a temporary ban on the pro-Palestine marches, suggesting it is not practical, but said the police need more powers. He said laws surrounding protests “are messy and complicated and could be sharper and clearer”, adding that pro-Palestinian protest organisers repeatedly try to include a synagogue on their route through London.
