Sir Rowley said: “The laws created by Parliament are clear. There is no absolute power to ban protests, therefore there will be a protest this weekend. The law provides no mechanism to ban a static gathering of people.
“It contains legislation which allows us to impose conditions to reduce disruption and the risk of violence, and in the most extreme cases when no other tactics can work, for marches or moving protests to be banned.”
The Mail reports that Sir Rowley said the organisers of Saturday’s march had been very cooperative and “complete willingness to stay away from the Cenotaph and Whitehall”.
He added: “Should this change, we’ve been clear we will use powers and conditions available to us to protect locations and events of national importance at all costs.”
Despite Sir Rowley’s reassurances, there have been calls from other organisations to take stronger measures for the safety of others.
Chief executive of Campaign Against Antisemitism, Gideon Falter said: “If the Met is unable or unwilling to protect our freedoms and values this Remembrance Day weekend, we call on the home secretary to issue section 40 directives to force the Met into action and call in the army to do what their predecessors did and uphold the values that our country stands for.”
This isn’t the first time Mr Falter has spoken out against police and the way they have handled the pro-Palestine marches.
Speaking to the Express, Mr Falter claimed they were appeasing the mob.
Mr Falter explained: “You see people literally calling for Jihad under the banner of Muslim armies and somebody waving an Al Qaeda flag and saying ‘Allah’s curses be on the infidels, Allah’s curses be on the Jews’ and the police spending their day on social media telling everybody that no crime is being committed and there is nothing for them to act against.
“On the one hand, we get absolutely leapt upon by the police by daring to show the faces of children kidnapped by terrorists, whereas people openly espousing jihad and waving the Al Qaeda flag are explained away by lawful protesters.
“It’s much easier for the police to placate a mob than to uphold the rights of a minority, particularly when that minority is a minority that is so appreciative and grateful to the police that it has never ever been a problem.”
There are concerns from several figures that pro-Palestine marches could lead to a rise in hate crime across the UK.
