Groups behind ceasefire protests attended by hundreds of thousands say local action will replace London march this week
Organisers of the pro-Palestine marches that have drawn hundreds of thousands of people to London’s streets have planned smaller action in villages, towns and cities rather than holding a national march in the capital this Saturday.
More than 100 pro-Palestine events demanding a ceasefire in Gaza are due to take place across the UK.
Continue reading...Groups behind ceasefire protests attended by hundreds of thousands say there will be events across UK
More than 100 pro-Palestine events demanding a ceasefire in Gaza are due to take place across the UK this weekend, but there will be no large-scale national march in London, according to organisers.
Organisers of the pro-Palestine marches that have drawn hundreds of thousands of people to London’s streets have planned smaller action in villages, towns and cities rather than holding a national march in the capital this Saturday, citing the challenges of coordinating weekly national protests and growing support across the country. The next large national march in central London would be held on 25 November, they said.
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‘A ceasefire is where we need to get to,’ Zoe Daniel says
Asked by RN Breakfast host Patricia Karvelas if she supports calls for a ceasefire, Zoe Daniel says:
If you call for a ceasefire, you’re letting down the Jewish community, if you don’t you’re allowing death and destruction to happen in Gaza.
At the end of the day, if I say to you right now, yes, I support ceasefire, that will make zero difference to what is happening in in Gaza.
I’m a former foreign correspondent. I know the logistics of this, of course, a ceasefire is where we need to get to, but you have a terrorist organisation in the middle of this. If there’s just a ceasefire, and there’s no capacity there to try to dismantle Hamas, does that allow Hamas to regroup? What does that actually lead to? That said, I’ve said to you before, very clearly, and I still stick to the position that the Israeli government has to adhere to international law and the rules of war, and I think, in some ways, has not been.
Continue reading...Downing Street says legislation will make clear ‘Rwanda is safe’ and will address court’s concerns after policy ruled unlawful. This live blog is closed
At his Institute for Government Q&A Sir Mark Rowley, commissioner of the Metropolitan police, refused to say what he felt about Lee Anderson, the Conservative party deputy chair, declaring yesterday that ministers should just ignore the supreme court judgment saying the Rwanda police was unlawful. Asked to respond, Rowley just said:
Politicians hold me to account, I don’t hold them to account.
Starmer travelled north of the border just hours after a revolt within his party over a ceasefire in Gaza resulted in the resignation of eight of his frontbenchers.
The Labour leader highlighted what he described as the “failure” of the UK government to negotiate a trade deal with India, a key exporter for Scotch whisky.
Continue reading...Home secretary says demonstration at Royal Artillery Memorial ‘deeply disrespectful’ and he is looking at giving police new powers
The actions of pro-Palestinian protesters who climbed on to a war memorial were “inflammatory” but not illegal, the Metropolitan police commissioner said on Thursday, as the government said it would consider giving police new powers to prevent “offensive” demonstrations.
Video footage appears to show at least two pro-Palestinian protesters clambering on the Royal Artillery Memorial at Hyde Park Corner, central London, on Wednesday evening, timed to coincide with a vote on calls for a ceasefire in Gaza in the Commons.
Continue reading...Aleksandra Skochilenko replaced five supermarket price tags with pieces of paper urging shoppers to stop the war
A Russian court has sentenced a St Petersburg artist to seven years in prison in a closely watched trial that has highlighted the severe punishments meted out to ordinary Russians for even small acts of civil protest against the invasion of Ukraine.
Aleksandra “Sasha” Skochilenko, an artist, musician and activist, was found guilty on Thursday of “knowingly spreading false information about the Russian army” in March 2022. The artist replaced five price tags in a local supermarket with pieces of paper urging shoppers to stop the war and resist propaganda on television.
Continue reading...Former home secretary tells PM he broke promises he made to gain her support during party leadership contest
Rishi Sunak took something of a risk when he decided to sack Suella Braverman. Her hardline, anti-immigration rhetoric was popular, not just with rightwing MPs, but with most of the Tory press (particularly the Daily Mail), and this morning those papers might have come out in her defence.
But, judging by their editorials, they are broadly supportive of Sunak. They have not turned on him – at least today.
Moving the impressive James Cleverly to Home Secretary is smart, as is appointing Esther McVey as ‘Common Sense Tsar’ to oversee the anti-woke agenda.
Will this be enough to placate the Tory Right? Only time will tell, but any MP who thinks salvation lies in yet more no- confidence letters – and trying to unseat another leader – needs their head testing.
The seeds of his downfall were planted that year when his promise of an EU referendum was included in the Tory manifesto, not least to see off a populist threat from Ukip. Mr Sunak is facing something similar in that the country is increasingly alarmed by high levels of immigration, both legal and illegal, and extremism. The recent pro-Palestinian marches and the rise of anti-Semitic hatred have brought much of this to a head.
Mrs Braverman articulated many of these concerns, and those who agree with her will be angry that she has been dropped, seeing it as appeasing the Left and deepening Tory divisions.
[Cameron’s] central achievement in 11 years as party leader, often overlooked after the Brexit debacle, was to give the Conservative party a much broader base. In his time, great strides were made in making sure a fiscally conservative party was also socially liberal and internationalist: advancing the careers of women in politics, championing same-sex marriage, expanding development aid and becoming the natural home of ethnically diverse British leadership, of whom Rishi Sunak himself is the outstanding embodiment.
Cameron’s renewed prominence is a reminder that the cabinet in which he will be sitting is mainstream and centre-right, looking to reduce taxation but only in a financially responsible way, controlling migration effectively but without divisive language, improving the UK’s relations with Europe while eschewing nationalistic rhetoric. That is what Sunak has been doing but against the backdrop of mixed messages from former PMs and some of his own cabinet. The Conservatives after this reshuffle are more unmistakably the party that some of its disenchanted former voters will recognise as their own.
Continue reading...Met and BTP seeking people in footage from Saturday’s marches, in particular at a ‘racially aggravated altercation’ at Waterloo
Police are looking for people seen in pictures and videos featuring antisemitic and Islamophobic language and symbols after Saturday’s pro-Palestinian and far-right marches in London.
Both the Metropolitan police and British Transport Police (BTP) released images on Sunday of individuals they hoped to identify.
The police have asked any members of the public who can identify the woman bearing the antisemitic placard shown in this article to call 101, giving reference 1235186/23. Information can also be provided to Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111
Continue reading...Officers believe claims made before Saturday’s pro-Palestinian march stoked far-right violence
Suella Braverman’s claims of police bias in the days leading up to Saturday’s pro-Palestinian march were a significant factor in “sustained” far-right attacks on members of the force, officers believe.
One police source with close knowledge of the weekend’s events said the intensity of attacks by far-right supporters on police officers in central London was “unprecedented”. Police believe some were in possession of and high on cocaine.
Continue reading...Home secretary’s rhetoric is dividing Conservative MPs, who are frustrated that Rishi Sunak has not sacked her
Suella Braverman has demanded “further action” against pro-Palestine marches, as centrist Conservative MPs expressed despair at Rishi Sunak’s delay in sacking his rogue home secretary.
One senior backbencher predicted “a lot of noise” from angry colleagues when they return to parliament on Monday, with no signs of imminent action from Sunak after a series of controversies involving Braverman.
Continue reading...Tens of thousands of people rally against government offer of clemency to those who made illegal push for independence in 2017
Tens of thousands of people have gathered across Spain to protest against the acting government’s plans to secure another term in office by offering an amnesty to those who took part in the illegal and failed push for Catalan independence six years ago.
The proposed amnesty law, which would apply to hundreds of people who participated in the unilateral effort to secede from Spain, has already led to a series of violent protests outside the Madrid headquarters of the governing Spanish Socialist Workers’ party (PSOE).
Continue reading...Police escort communities secretary as protesters shout ‘Shame on you’ shortly after London station sit-in
Michael Gove has been mobbed by protesters as he walked through London’s Victoria station, moments after a sit-in protest for Palestine ended.
Pro-Palestinian protesters chanted “shame on you” as the communities secretary, escorted by police officers, made his way through the concourse. Video footage posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, shows a number of protesters waving flags and surging towards Gove as Metropolitan police officers pushed them away and shouted at them to “get back”.
Continue reading...Royal British Legion says public supported appeal as usual with no evidence volunteers were targeted
On the concourse of Waterloo station in London on Friday morning, poppy seller David Poynter, 45, was relishing the bumper demand. He had set up the stall at 6.30am and commuters were queueing to donate and support the fundraising campaign.
Poynter, a train driver, has volunteered each November for nearly 30 years and takes holiday to support the cause. He is so dedicated to the role that he regularly works a shift lasting 12 hours.
Continue reading...Organisers say rally on Armistice Day could be one of the largest political marches in British history
Protesters have begun assembling for a pro-Palestinian rally in London that is expected to draw hundreds of thousands on Saturday, while police have jostled with far-right groups attempting to reach the Cenotaph.
Organisers say that the pro-Palestine march, which has been the backdrop to a political row over Suella Braverman’s public criticism of the policing of protests, could be one of the biggest political marches in British history.
Continue reading...Police to put tight controls on protesters’ movements with hundreds of thousands expected at event on Armistice Day
The organisers of the pro-Palestine march due to take place in London on Armistice Day believe “hundreds of thousands” of people will turn out for what they say will be one of Britain’s biggest days of mass protest.
Meanwhile, the Metropolitan police said the policing of the remembrance weekend would be “far greater and more complex than we’ve delivered before” and that officers would draw on “an extensive set of powers to prevent any disruption whatsoever”, with tight controls put on the movements of protesters.
Continue reading...Extremist organisations and football hooligans have been urged to gather at Cenotaph in central London
Far-right groups, from football hooligans to so-called “migrant hunters”, are seeking to mobilise supporters to turn up in central London on Armistice Day to oppose the pro-Palestine march.
Evidence from social media and closed chat forums suggests there has been a push from a range of extremist organisations to get their supporters out.
Continue reading...The son of a Palestinian vicar from west Jerusalem and an English mother has helped bring hundreds of thousands of people on to the capital’s streets
“By and large, it’s all been resolved,” said Ben Jamal, the director of the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign (PSC), of his latest meeting with the Metropolitan police about the pro-Palestine march due to take place on Armistice Day in central London.
A “very long meeting” with officers on Wednesday morning had “focused on ironing out the final details of logistics”. There would be just one final discussion to confirm the precise finishing point of Saturday’s procession from Marble Arch to Nine Elms, close to the US embassy, he said.
Continue reading...Prime minister says he finds prospect of march ‘disrespectful’ but says freedom includes ‘right to peacefully protest’
Keith is only now asking about Covid. All the questions so far have been about process.
Sedwill says, when concerns about Covid arose, he did not agree to a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee taking place immediately. He wanted to ensure that the meeting was prepared for. And he was concerned that having a Cobra meeting might alarm people.
I felt that a Cobra which might have been convened primarily for communications purposes wasn’t wise. Two days later I was advised there was a genuine cross-government basis for it and I agreed.
May we be plain please as to what you mean by communications purposes. Were you concerned that the Cobra was being called by the DHSC [the Department of Health and Social Care] for presentation purposes, that is to say to make a splash about the role of DHSC, perhaps its secretary of state [Matt Hancock], and that’s why you initially hesitated.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: The Metropolitan police has resisted calls to ban a march in support of a ceasefire in Gaza – but that may not be the end of the story
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Good morning. Claims that a pro-Palestine march planned in London for Armistice Day this weekend poses a threat to the Cenotaph just won’t go away. Yesterday, the justice secretary, Alex Chalk, said that even those with no malicious intent risked supporting extremists at “an extremely important time in our calendar”, and called for the march to be postponed. “The police must stop any odious behaviour at the Cenotaph,” the Conservative MP James Sunderland said. “But far better for the government to ensure that no protest goes near it in the first place.”
Sunderland’s demand may be perplexing to the protesters: the march on Saturday is intended to run from Hyde Park to the US embassy, nowhere near the war memorial in Whitehall.
Israel-Hamas war | Israeli forces are “in the heart of Gaza City”, Israel’s defence minister Yoav Gallant said, as Palestinian families waving white flags streamed away from the capital on Tuesday. Meanwhile, after Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would take indefinite “security responsibility” for the territory, the White House said that it would oppose any reoccupation of Gaza. For the latest, head to the live blog.
Fossil fuels | The world’s fossil fuel producers are planning expansions that would blow the planet’s carbon budget twice over, a UN report has found. Petrostates’ plans would lead to 460% more coal production, 83% more gas, and 29% more oil in 2030 than would be possible under the internationally agreed 1.5C target, the report said.
Vaping | UK ministers are considering a new tax on vapes in a significant expansion of moves to create a “smoke-free generation” that also includes the gradual introduction of a total ban on smoking for children. The move to tax vapes was one of the few surprise measures in a king’s speech that appeared largely designed to create dividing lines with Labour. Read a summary of measures in the bill.
Covid inquiry | The government body set up to coordinate Covid policy had no warning about Rishi Sunak’s “eat out to help out” scheme and felt “blindsided” by the Treasury over it, the inquiry into the pandemic has been told.
Childcare | Poorer families are being “locked out” of expanded free nursery hours, experts have warned, as Guardian analysis reveals that the number of not-for-profit nurseries in England’s most-deprived areas has fallen sharply. Close to a third of not-for-profit nurseries closed their doors or were taken over by private companies, including private equity firms, in the poorest parts of the country from 2018-2022.
Continue reading...About 500 demonstrators including artist Nan Goldin attend protest on Monday in New York City
Hundreds of protestors staged a sit-in demonstration at New York’s Statue of Liberty on Monday afternoon demanding a ceasefire in Gaza.
About 500 members and supporters of Jewish Voice for Peace-New York City (JVP-NYC) waved flags and banners and sang pro-peace songs, according to a spokesperson for the group.
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