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The Palestine march is taking place tomorrow in London on the third anniversary of the October 7, 2023 massacre, when Hamas and armed Palestinians crossed into southern Israel and attacked.
Around 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage. For Jewish Londoners, tomorrow is a day of mourning and remembrance. For those taking part in the Palestine march, it has become a day of celebration.
The Met have asked organisers to choose another date, they refused. Police have powers to impose conditions on demonstrations, but commanders claim the legal threshold for restricting the protest has not been met. The march will therefore go ahead tomorrow on the anniversary of the massacre.
In October 2025, UKIP’s Reclaim Whitechapel From the Islamists event was barred from the entire London Borough of Tower Hamlets after the Met said there was a realistic prospect of serious disorder if it went ahead there.
Police imposed Public Order Act conditions preventing participants from entering the borough.
In January 2026, the Met imposed similar conditions on another UKIP protest in Whitechapel, again preventing the demonstration from taking place in Tower Hamlets. The police powers existed then. They exist now. And they were enforced.
The same approach was taken against the Walk With Jesus Christian procession, with restrictions preventing the march from going where organisers wanted and Edgware Road also shut to the demonstration. Police said the restrictions were necessary because of fears that a hostile local reaction could turn violent.
Apparently, these same police powers are unavailable tomorrow.
So while the police can move a Christian march away from an area to prevent a hostile reaction from the Muslim community, they cannot move a Palestine march away from the anniversary of a massacre to protect London’s Jewish Community.
The police are not powerless. They are choosing which side to police.
6:33 AM · Oct 6, 2026
