Stop the War coalition : 5 Things You Can Do To Help Stop the Ban
Posted: 12th January 2025
5 Things You Can Do To Help Stop the Ban
The Metropolitan Police are trying to stop us protesting at BBC Broadcasting House next Saturday (18 January).
We agreed the route with the Met in November. Now they’re claiming we can’t assemble there because we might disrupt a nearby synagogue, which isn’t even on the route of the march.
We don’t accept this excuse. Our marches pose no threat to Jewish people worshipping. The Met must not misuse public order powers to shield the BBC from democratic scrutiny over its coverage of the Gaza genocide.
Help us push back against the police ban.
- Complain to Met Police via X @metpoliceuk or use the Met Police complaint form or email
- Email the BBC to complain and demand they report about the ban
- Circulate the open letter
- Lobby your MP & email the mayor of London
- Use your social media to make sure everyone knows #WeWillMarch
Open Letter to the Met Police
We strongly condemn police attempts to stop an agreed march for Palestine from protesting at the BBC on 18 January.
The route for the march was confirmed with the Police nearly two months ago and, as agreed with them, was publicly announced on 30 November. This route, beginning at the BBC, has only been used twice in the last 15 months of demonstrations and not since February 2024. With just over a week to go, the Metropolitan Police is reneging on the agreement and has stated its intention to prevent the protest from going ahead as planned.
The BBC is a major institution – it is a publicly-funded state broadcaster and is rightly accountable to the public. The police should not be misusing public order powers to shield the BBC from democratic scrutiny.
The excuse offered by the police is that the march could cause disruption to a nearby synagogue which is not even on the march route. As the Met Police have acknowledged, there has not been a single incident of any threat to a synagogue attached to any of the marches. Any suggestion that pro-Palestine marches are somehow hostile to Jewish people ignores the fact that Jewish people have been joining the marches in their thousands.
The rights to protest and free speech are precious. It is not acceptable in a democratic society that, in the face of an ongoing genocide in Gaza, people should be barred from protesting at the BBC. We call on the police to drop their objections and allow the protest to go ahead as planned.