Met Police Deploys 4,000 Officers To Police Tommy Robinson And Pro-Palestine Nakba Day Rallies

London’s Metropolitan Police is preparing for potential violence and hate speech crimes across two protests on Saturday, with more than 4,000 officers drafted in as the FA Cup final also takes place in the capital.

BBC said the Met is imposing the “highest degree of control” and is planning the first authorisation of live facial recognition cameras at a demonstration, while also putting armoured vehicles on standby.

Al Jazeera

Sky News reported that around 4,000 officers will be deployed in London when Tommy Robinson’s Unite the Kingdom rally coincides with a pro-Palestine Nakba Day rally on the day of the FA Cup final.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner James Harman told reporters the policing operation is on an “unprecedented” scale, and he said Saturday “has the potential to be one of the busiest days for policing in London in recent years.”

The Met’s plan includes live facial recognition, with Sky News saying cameras will be set up in a location in Camden, north London, and the London Evening Standard adding that the technology will be used “for the first time” during a public order operation.

BBC said the £4.5m plan includes strict conditions on the routes of both events and that organisers are personally responsible for the conduct of speakers on stages.

Al-Monitor

London Evening Standard reported that speakers who engage in antisemitic, anti-Muslim or other hate speech will face arrest, and it said people who chant “death to the IDF” or “Globalise the Intifada” will also face arrest.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner James Harman said the Met’s approach gives it “significant cause for concern” as it heads into the weekend and requires a policing plan with “the most assertive grip on the movement of large numbers of people.”

BBC said the Met believes it can keep both events separate and contained using its “most assertive” powers, even though it could not ask for either protest event to be banned under the law.

The BBC also said the £4.5m plan involves enhanced public order powers including stop and search and dispersal, with 660 officers arriving from other forces outside London.

Sky News reported that the terrorism threat level had been raised to severe and that there was an increase in hate crimes, particularly targeting Jewish Londoners, as police prepared for “potential for serious disorder and other criminality.”

BBC added that specialist officers working with prosecutors will be on standby to take swift decisions to arrest and charge hate speech crimes, and it quoted Harman saying: “If something is hateful and intimidating we will take action whatever the academic or historical interpretation of those words.”