Dozens of British lawmakers, peers call for independent probe into policing of pro-Palestine protest

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - More than 50 lawmakers and members of the House of Lords have called for an independent investigation into the Metropolitan Police’s handling of a pro-Palestine protest in early January.

In a letter sent Thursday to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, members of the House of Commons and the House of Lords expressed concerns over what they described as a denial of civil liberties and the right to protest.

The parliamentarians urged an independent inquiry into the policing of a pro-Palestine demonstration on Jan. 18, which led to 77 arrests and charges under the Public Order Act against organizers.

“We are deeply troubled by the obstacles put in place by the Metropolitan Police ahead of the Jan. 18 demonstration, as well as the policing on the day,” the lawmakers wrote.

They joined dozens of UK lawyers and legal experts who last week condemned the police response, calling it “a disproportionate, unwarranted, and dangerous assault on the right to assembly and protest.”

The letter highlighted that since October 2023, the UK has seen 24 peaceful national demonstrations, each drawing between 100,000 and a million attendees. Organizers, the lawmakers noted, have engaged with the Metropolitan Police ahead of every march to ensure their success.

The letter also called for charges to be dropped against those it described as “unjustly arrested or unjustly charged.”

“And we ask that the Home Office commission an independent investigation into the policing of the protest,” the letter added.

The Home Office has yet to respond to the demand for an inquiry.

- Police ban on protest

Ahead of the Jan. 18 protest, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) and its coalition partners including the Palestinian Forum in Britain, Friends of Al-Aqsa, the Stop the War Coalition, the Muslim Association of Britain and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament announced that they will assemble outside the BBC.

The Metropolitan Police issued a statement on a ban of a planned pro-Palestine protest assembling at the BBC in London because of its proximity to a synagogue.

In its decision, the police cited concern that a protest forming so close to a synagogue on a Saturday, the Jewish holy day, when congregants will be attending Shabbat services, "risks causing serious disruption."

However, the coalition in response said that "any suggestion that pro-Palestine marches are somehow hostile to Jewish people ignores the fact that Jewish people have been joining the marches in their thousands."

Since October 2023, thousands of Jewish protesters have been attending pro-Palestinian marches to protest Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip under the Jewish bloc with the slogan "Not in our name."

Ahead of the protest, hundreds of British Jews have called on the Metropolitan Police to reverse the ban on the planned pro-Palestine protest outside the BBC.

Later, although the coalition announced that they would assemble in Whitehall and march to the BBC, police announced that the ban would still be in place on Jan. 18.