Guardian: Pressure mounts on London police over violent handling of pro-Gaza protests

The Guardian newspaper said that the London Metropolitan Police is facing increasing questions about its handling of the pro-Palestinian protest in the city center during which more than 70 people were arrested.

According to a report by the newspaper translated by "Yemeni Youth Net", trade union leaders have become the latest group to write to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, demanding an independent investigation into the "repressive and violent treatment by police" at the January 18 demonstration.

Their letter was followed by others from legal experts, MPs, peers and the British Palestine Committee, who made the same demand and also called for a review of the legislation restricting protest introduced by the Conservative government.

Amnesty International has also expressed concerns about police practices, while London Assembly Green Party member Zoe Garbett told a meeting of the Assembly's police and crime committee that she had received more than 150 calls describing incidents of police detention and violence against children, pregnant women and the elderly.

In a statement after the demonstration, Police Chief Adam Sloneky, who led the policing operation, claimed there was a “deliberate effort, including by the protest organisers, to breach the conditions and attempt to break out of the Whitehall area”. He described it as a “serious escalation in crime”.

Previous marches, held since Israel launched its offensive on Gaza after an October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, have passed largely without incident, and relations between police and organizers in the Palestine Solidarity Campaign ( PSC ) have been considered cordial.

But restrictions on the route of the latest demonstration, which prevented a march to BBC headquarters, and a number of arrests – including that of the demonstration's lead organiser, Chris Nineham of the Stop the War coalition – have strained relations.

Nineham was charged with public disorder, as was the director of the public service centre, Ben Jamal, while 60 of the 77 people arrested were said to have breached the conditions imposed, which the Metropolitan Police said were to protect a synagogue near the BBC offices.

Police said the 60 people broke through police lines, but protesters, including Green Party Deputy Leader Zach Polansky, said the arrests were made without warning because they were inadvertently outside the ill-defined permitted area.

Polanski told Guardian columnist Owen Jones that he intervened when police tried to stop a woman in her late 60s or early 70s from leaving the rally area to go to the toilet, while a Stop the War campaigner claimed they prevented officers from arresting a 13-year-old girl holding a placard for breaching public order laws because she arrived before the permitted rally time.

The various messages say the Metropolitan Police falsely accused the flower-bearing protesters - including former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and his shadow chancellor John McDonnell - of storming police lines while video footage showed officers initially letting them through.

Trade union leaders from the Public and Commercial Services Union ( PCSU ), the Communications Workers Union ( CWU ), the University and College Union, and transport unions RMT , TSSA and Aslef say:“We recognise that the repressive powers used by the police on Saturday stem from the previous Conservative government’s efforts to limit our freedom to strike and protest.”

British-Egyptian actor Khaled Abdalla, star of The Crown and The Day of the Jackal , said the police actions reminded him of those he had seen in Egypt.

With the next march scheduled for February 15, the police response – both before and on the day of the march – is sure to come under increased scrutiny.