Report by Dave Putson
On Saturday, I joined more than twenty local people, some with prams and children, others with dogs on a leash, who had gathered to travel from South East London into Central London and Whitehall, to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, in what was then a war still 15 months on. We further wanted to protest at the duplicitous and biased BBC coverage of the war.
The journey to London was not as easy as usual, as both Charing Cross station and Cannon Street stations, the usual arrival points for trains going from SE London, were both closed. Finally arriving at Westminster, it was obvious that this was going to be a huge demonstration. There seemed to be no tourists in sight.
There were only going to be two elements to this day: the peaceful protesters and swathes of police, attired military-style, and nearly outnumbered by the police vehicles parked on the roadside. As we turned into the road, I was shocked to see a phalanx of police stretching across the width of Whitehall, almost as if no one was allowed to go further. But we did go further; we pushed between them and at this point they said nothing, just let us through.
We walked to the point beyond the large stage, parallel with the entrance to 10 Downing Street and at this point I had my first taste of what was to come. Large numbers of hi-viz clad police came over and started harassing people and telling one and all to move over to the pavement opposite 10 Downing Street.
One I had cause to challenge for his rude and aggressive behaviour was almost tempted to push me in that direction, but clearly stopped himself and instead threatened me with arrest if we did not move. He did not respond to my question, “for what?” and just moved off.
March route agreed between police and organisers months ago
Shortly afterwards, a collection of what looked like teenagers, kitted out in kilts and army attire, were marching down Whitehall. Apparently they had been marching up and down the street. It was quite funny that on a day that had been agreed with the police for a March to Whitehall, the stations into London should be closed, and that these young soldiers should feel the need to do some training in Whitehall. It almost seemed as antagonising as the attitude and behaviour of the Police.
Having agreed the march route with the organisers as long ago as October 2024, the police were clearly determined to renege on the agreement and and enforce a static event.
At the event there were many excellent speeches, none more so than from a Jewish Holocaust survivor. He had been a child at the time, and had lived through that horror and he was now witnessing again now. It struck me that what he was actually calling for today, to resolve this issue, was the dissolution of an exclusive ‘Jewish’ Israel and the formation of a secular state.
We have heard much from all of the Western colonialist powers continually claiming to support a two-state solution, but I wonder what most Palestinians want? Has anybody bothered to ask them, or will they be subject to having remedies forced upon them? Clearly one speaker knew what he thought was a valid solution, perhaps the Palestinians might agree ?
Once the speeches were done it was announced that the organising groups, including Stop the War and the Jewish Block and the MPs who had spoken, would march towards Trafalgar Square to place their list of concerns about the BBC at Portland Place, BBC headquarters, and to protest the BBC’s partial and biased reporting of the Gazan genocide.
Single file of police across Whitehall
The rest of the 200,000 attendees made way for them to proceed, and followed on behind. At that point there was single Police file across half of Whitehall. Not surprisingly, the just marchers moved around this line and proceeded to follow their leaders to Trafalgar Square. But this was where the real police lines were.
Every road entrance and exit to Trafalgar Square was block with huge numbers of police vehicles; there were large numbers of police togged out in their military style black overalls. On the left side of the Square both sides of that road were lined with Police vans and cars. It became rammed with police and protesters. The protesters, surprisingly, remaining calm, singing, dancing and chanting for a Free Palestine and a Gaza ceasefire. The police, howeveer, were totally and unnecessarily aggressive and bullying.
I had cause to have a fair and frank exchange of views with one snot-nosed policeman, who despite seemingly only a metre in height, felt it necessary to scream at me, that if I wanted to continue my protest I had to return to Whitehall or I would be arrested. He looked stunned and surprised and clearly didn’t understand my response, which, to be fair, was stated in assertive Anglo-Saxon. He looked shocked and a little blankly as I turned and strolled away.
I stayed in Trafalgar Square for another hour, watching as the cat and mouse of game between police and protesters carried on. At one point the steps to St Martin if the Fields was occupied. Three policemen in hi-viz jackets decided that this was unacceptable and went to the top of the steps to tell the protesters there, who were sitting down, that they had to move.
But given that all the exits were blocked by police, this was somewhat problematic. Clearly neither these officers nor their leaders had bothered to think things through on this point.
Shortly afterwards, marching up the right hand side of the Square and up to those seated on the steps, there was a Roman-style phalanx of police, five wide and twenty deep. They seemed to be part marching and part jogging, aiming to disperse the protesters peaceful seated on the steps of St Martin’s.
Drummers disrupted by another phalanx of police
My attention was drawn back towards Whitehall where there was a circle of Palestinian drummers making some very loud rhythmic noises, and they too were rapidly approached by a similar-sized phalanx of police, again jogging into and breaking up this group. The police behaviour was wholly aggressive, and completely unnecessarily so: like a band of bullying thugs in unifiorm. They have clearly no perception of the idea of Policing by Consent. There was no consent today.
This kind of nonsense was going on all around Trafalgar Square. Normally, I would arrive at one of these peaceful protests at midday, and by 4pm it would be mostly over, and I would make my way home. But this disgraceful police conduct meant that there were more delays all around London, and the event went on much longer. As a consequence of the unnecessary aggression of the police, they no doubt felt they had to justify themselves by making arrests.
On my way home I saw many social media posts captured by other protesters, even some showing police arresting children. They even arrested the head steward of the march, Chris Nineham of Stop the War.
The way the police behaved, most people thought had Keir Starmer’s fingerprints all over it. The police had been saying, apparently that the route of the march went “too close” to a synogogue, and there was a threat to “Jewish safety”. This would have come as a surprise to the Jewish Boc on the march!
It is dissappointing, but sadly not surprising, that London Mayor Sadiq Khan has said and done nothing in regards to this event. Maybe he is leaving it so all of the political fallout falls on Starmer. But you would expect that either Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Mark Rowley, or Khan would have understood that it would be safer and less disruptive simply to allow a peaceful march to go ahead. Clearly the authoritarian Starmer, had a different view.
Only the far right confronted the police with violence
And so we saw unnecessary arrests and police violence and aggression, where even on the Armistice Day Palestine march they had been able to exercise some calm common sense. On that day they were confronted, as ever, with the violence and confrontational behaviour of the far right. On Whitehall that day, it ended up with a few hundred fascists fighting with the police whilst hundreds of thousands marched peaceably through other London streets.
This Saturday, the Police were guilty of reneging on an agreement previously made with march organisers. The clear implication is that they had been subjected to political pressure and ordered to forget ‘policing by consent’. There are clearly huge questions of accountability for Starmer, Khan and Rowley to answer. It was another very bad day for the ‘authorities’ in London.
Feature picture and inset pic of the march are from feeds on X.
