Met police chief condemned for claiming pro-Palestine protests intended to go past synagogues

A coalition of campaign groups have demanded that Mark Rowley, head of London's Metropolitan Police, retract a claim that pro-Palestine protest organisers repeatedly intended to include synagogues on their planned demonstration routes in London.  

The groups included the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Friends of Al-Aqsa, the Stop the War Coalition, and the Palestinian Forum of Britain.

They were responding to recent comments in The Times, in which Rowley stated: “Their initial suggestion for their route, their march, has involved walking by a synagogue. Each time we’ve prevented that, we’ve put conditions on.

“The fact that features as the organisers’ intent, I think that sends a message… that feels like antisemitism. That may be a fair or unfair inference, but that’s the message it sends.”

The groups said Rowley’s “claims are incomprehensible and defamatory”. 

Read more: Met police chief condemned for claiming pro-Palestine protests intended to go past synagogues