The Palestine Coalition in Britain confirmed its insistence on organising its annual march to commemorate the Nakba of Palestine, amid intensifying public pressure on British police to change their position rejecting the proposed route. The Stop the War Coalition announced that the commemoration of the seventy-eighth anniversary of the Nakba and the ethnic cleansing that accompanied it against the Palestinian people from their land, as well as the ongoing Israeli violence, aims "to affirm the rights of Palestinians and demand an end to Britain's complicity" with Israeli crimes. The coalition , which is one of the members of the Palestine Coalition, pledged in a statement on Tuesday, 14 April, "not to allow the marginalisation of the Palestinian cause on this decisive day" while Israel continues its attacks on Gaza.
At the same time, the coalition intends to deliver a protest letter to the leadership of the Metropolitan Police over its refusal of the coalition's request to organise the annual Nakba march in central London while allowing the far right to organise a march on the same day.
The coalition submitted an official request to the police in December last year to organise its march for next month, on 16 May.
However, the police rejected the request while approving far-right leader Tommy Robinson to organise a march that would pass through key areas of central London, including the government district, ministries, and the seat of parliament.
A delegation of representatives from the coalition, which includes six organisations supporting the Palestinian cause, intends to deliver a letter to Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley at Scotland Yard headquarters on Wednesday, 14 April, that "renews the demand for the right to protest on the anniversary of the Nakba".
The delegation also includes British representatives of Palestinian origin, accompanied by well-known artists Juliet Stevenson, Billy Howle, and Khalid Abdalla, as well as several members of parliament, trade union leaders, and civil society organisations.
The letter to be delivered to Rowley carries the signatures of 180 prominent public figures calling on the Metropolitan Police "not to favour the far right over Palestine ".
The Palestine Coalition and its supporters are protesting the police granting "the political centre of London to a march of hate" passing through Kingsway, the Strand, Trafalgar Square, Whitehall, and Parliament Square.
The Palestine Coalition includes the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the Muslim Association of Britain, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, the Stop the War Coalition, the Palestinian Forum in Britain, and Friends of Al-Aqsa.
The letter refers to the "shock" at the police decision. It states that the far right has previously "targeted the Palestinian movement , and has done so strongly through verbal and physical violence directed at the movement and the police".
The signatories call on police leadership to make an "immediate reversal" of its decision, which they described as "shameful".
They also call on "everyone with a living conscience" to join the march for Palestine on 16 May. Article translated from Arabic by Afrah Almatwari. To read the original, click here .