Proposal to charge pro-Gaza marchers for UK policing draws strong criticism

A proposal by a UK government adviser that organisers of marches should pay for the cost of policing them has been condemned as an assault on the democratic right to protest.

Large pro-Palestine marches have taken place in London since the attack by Hamas on Israel. The marches have been policed by more than 1,000 officers on each occasion.

Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist recently told MPs that £17 million ($21 million) had been spent on policing the protests between October 7 and December 8.

John Woodcock, known as Lord Walney, who was asked by the government to carry out a review of political violence and disruption before the war in Gaza, has now said march organisers should be made to pay the cost of policing.

The marches have been organised by a coalition of groups including the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the Muslim Association of Britain, Friends of Al Aqsa, the Palestinian Forum in Britain, Stop the War and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

Ben Jamal, director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, told The National that “the proposals, if implemented, would be a fundamental assault on all democratic rights”.

“Marching as a form of protest is not a privilege or a gift granted by the government. It is a fundamental democratic right,” he said.

“These marches, by the police’s own admission, and by reference to the numbers arrested, have been overwhelmingly peaceful.

“So, we would argue that the police don’t need to be spending so many resources on these marches, that these marches are over policed in relation to how orderly they are. If the police are finding that they are stretched, they might need to consider why they need so many officers.” The Met Police has used 28,000 officer shifts to deal with these protests, with 5,500 rest days cancelled, Mr Twist told MPs.