Pro-Palestine coalition condemns Starmer for suggesting ban on marches

“Pro-Palestine coalition condemns Starmer for suggesting ban on marches Submitted by Oscar Rickett on Sat, 05/02/2026 - 13:01 UK prime minister accused of 'belittling antisemitism' as Palestine Solidarity Campaign says Nakba Day march will go ahead Protesters chant slogans and wave Palestinian flags in central London, on 8 June 2024 (AFP) Off A coalition of campaign groups organising pro- Palestine marches in the UK has hit out at attempts to smear them by politicians and the media and suggestions that the demonstrations could be banned. Confirming that the planned Nakba Day demonstration in London will go ahead on 16 May, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), Stop the War Coalition, Friends of al-Aqsa and other groups stated on Friday night that "the right to protest is a fundamental freedom". "In the wake of the horrific antisemitic attack in Golders Green, politicians and the media have rushed to falsely characterise the marches for Palestine and to call for them to be suppressed," PSC said. "These calls dangerously conflate Jewish people with the state of Israel and peaceful political protest with unconnected violent acts. We utterly reject both." A 45-year-old Somali -born British national was arrested on Wednesday afternoon after the stabbing of two Jewish men, aged 34 and 76, in Golders Green, a neighbourhood of northwest London with a large Jewish population. Essa Suleiman is also accused of the attempted murder earlier in the day of Ishmail Hussein, a Muslim man he had known for about 20 years. On Friday, London's Metropolitan Police announced that Suleiman, who was released from a psychiatric hospital just days before the attacks, had been charged not with terrorism offences, but with three counts of attempted murder and one count of possession of a bladed article in a public place. Politicians including British Prime Minister Keir Starmer have used the Golders Green attacks to condemn pro-Palestine marches and call for their curtailment. In an interview with the BBC's Today programme on Saturday, Starmer said the language used on marches should be policed and suggested that there could be a case for banning marches altogether. "I think when you hear some of those chants - 'globalise the intifada' would be the one I would pick out - then clearly there should be tougher action in relation to that," Starmer said. 'These calls dangerously conflate Jewish people with the state of Israel and peaceful political protest with unconnected violent acts. We utterly reject both' - Palestine Solidarity Campaign There have been no recorded incidents in the UK of an antisemitic attack involving the phrase "globalise the intifada", but in December, the Metropolitan and Greater Manchester police forces announced they would arrest people for chanting the phrase or holding placards displaying it. Asked about calls - including from Jonathan Hall, the government's independent reviewer of terrorism legislation - for a "moratorium" on pro-Palestine marches, Starmer responded: “I think it's time to look across the board at protests and the cumulative effect.” “In relation to the repeated nature of the marches, many people in the Jewish community have said to me, it's the repeat nature, it's the cumulative effect," the prime minister said. “Now, I accept that, which is why we intend to deal with cumulative effects.” Starmer said his government needed to "look at what further powers we can take" in relation to the protests. “I'm not saying, of course, that there aren't very strong, legitimate views about the Middle East, about Gaza. We all have deep concerns about it,” he said. Starmer condemned Campaign groups condemned the remarks and the suggestion that marches could be banned. Lindsey German, convenor of Stop the War Coalition, told Middle East Eye: "Keir Starmer talks about banning marches and slogans, falsely claiming they increase threats of antisemitism. "The marches are protests at the role of the Israeli government in its genocidal attacks on Gaza, and at the complicity of Starmer's own government in supporting Israel." "This is an attack on our freedom of speech and long held right to assembly and we will not give up that right," German said. "Starmer's interview this weekend is as cynical as it is dangerous," Nick Dearden, director of Global Justice Now, told MEE. 'Demanding Israel stops its genocidal rampage on Palestine is clearly not antisemitic, and by trying to draw the comparison, Starmer is belittling antisemitism' - Nick Dearden, Global Justice Now Referring to upcoming local elections on 7 May, Dearden said: "Instead of lowering the heat and fostering unity, he is fostering division in a desperate attempt to avoid electoral defeat. "Demanding Israel stops its genocidal rampage on Palestine is clearly not antisemitic, and by trying to draw the comparison, Starmer is belittling antisemitism." "Starmer's government is utterly complicit in Israel's war crimes," Dearden said. "He has blood on his hands and now risks further fuelling antisemitism, rather than taking the important steps necessary to undermine it." Ben Jamal, director of PSC, said: "Those who utilise individual acts of racist violence to justify the denial of basic democratic freedoms, including the right to protest, diminish rather than advance the antiracist struggle." Daniel Levy, a British Israeli analyst and former adviser to the Israeli government, called the suggestion that there should be a moratorium on freedom of expression "appalling". "That sounds like something that would encourage more antisemitism. You can't have a false dochotomy between Jewish safety and Palestinian rights," Levy told Channel 4 News. “First we'll be told you can't protest on this and then you won't be able to protest on anything and then we're living in a fundamentally different society.” Nakba march against Tommy Robinson In its statement, PSC and the coalition of groups organising the Palestine marches said that on 16 May "we will march in London for the annual commemoration of the Nakba - the catastrophe inflicted on the Palestinians by Israel since 1948." Starmer accused of 'weaponising' Golders Green attack to target pro-Palestine protests Read More » "We will march in opposition to the British government’s complicity in Israel’s well-documented ethnic cleansing, apartheid and genocide," the groups said. This year, the march will also be held against far-right British agitator Tommy Robinson and his supporters, who have a "Unite the Kingdom" march planned for the same day. PSC said that "as always, our march will involve thousands of Jewish people - many of them proudly displaying their Jewish identity - as part of the Jewish Bloc, as organisers and platform speakers." Israel's genocide in Gaza began following the Hamas-led attacks of 7 October 2023. Medical officials in Gaza say the death toll is now at least 72,601, with 172,419 people wounded since 7 October 2023. Since the ceasefire agreed on 11 October last year Israel has killed at least 824 people and 2,316 wounded, according to health authorities. Rescue teams have also recovered 764 bodies from beneath destroyed buildings. UK Politics News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0

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