Outcry over decision to cover Shoah memorial
▶ YAD VASHEM has described the decision to cover up the Holocaust memorial in London’s Hyde Park during a Palestine protest last month as “deeply troubling”.
The World Holocaust Remembrance Centre in Israel was joined by the UK’s Association for Jewish Refugees (AJR) and the Board of Deputies in expressing dismay at the “precautionary” move by Royal Parks officials.
The monument to the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust was covered in tarpaulin and guarded by police officers as the anti-Israel march came to an end and demonstrators gathered in Hyde Park.
Expressing “deep concern” over Shoah memorials being shrouded in the UK and the US, Yad Vashem said: “The decision to cover up Holocaust memorials out of fear from the scourge of global antisemitism is deeply troubling.”
The AJR, which represents and cares for Holocaust survivors and refugees, said it is “deeply upset that it has been necessary to cover up this poignant memorial”. It added: “That a monument remembering the Holocaust should be under attack is a stain on our society and will be distressing to all those who lost loved ones.”
Marie van der Zyl, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, which funded the memorial, said: “It’s appalling that such precautions need to be taken.”
The Mail on Sunday, which devoted its front page to the cover-up, incorrectly suggested in its headline that Metropolitan Police had been responsible for hiding the memorial, though its coverage subsequently made clear it was a Royal Parks decision.
According to the Met, two arrests were made during the pro-Palestine march last month, with one man arrested for holding a placard with a swastika. Gideon Falter, the CEO of Campaign Against Antisemitism, cancelled a protest walk scheduled to take place at the same, citing concerns for the safety of Jewish participants.
Falter has been calling for Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley’s resignation over perceived failures to adequately police the marches in central London.