Rishi Sunak has described pro-Palestinian protests planned for London on Armistice Day as “provocative and disrespectful”.
The prime minister also claimed that there was a “clear and present risk that the Cenotaph and other war memorials could be desecrated” on a day when thousands of marchers were due to take to the streets.
His intervention came after the security minister, Tom Tugendhat, said the planned demonstration by the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign (PSC) on Saturday 11 November in central London was “a matter of great concern” to him and that he had written to police about it.
The march is taking place on Armistice Day, when events will include a two-minute silence commemorating Britain’s war dead on the 105th anniversary of the end of the first world war. The PSC said there are no plans to march near Whitehall or the Cenotaph on Remembrance weekend.
A Met police commander, Karen Findlay, an expert in public order and policing large events, said the march’s organisers had told police they had no intention of causing disruption to Remembrance events and were cooperating with officers.
“They have already expressed that they have no intention to disrupt Remembrance events and are working with us to really establish a route, assembly points, etc, which will not factor within what I would call the Remembrance footprint,” she told a press briefing.
Findlay said police would use retrospective facial recognition to identify people at the march through London on Saturday and vowed to intervene quickly and enter crowds if necessary to pluck out suspects.
She denied that the tougher police tactics were a result of political pressure from government ministers and media supporters, telling a press briefing: “No, we are retaining our operational independence. We are reviewing our policing approach and it’s right that that is responsive, taking into account what has occurred.”
Sunak had earlier used the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, to say he had asked the home secretary to support the police “in doing everything necessary” to protect the sanctity of Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday.
He said: “To plan protests on Armistice Day is provocative and disrespectful, and there is a clear and present risk that the Cenotaph and other war memorials could be desecrated, something that would be an affront to the British public and the values we stand for..
“The right to remember, in peace and dignity, those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for those freedoms must be protected.”
Tugendhat, who is a military veteran, told Times Radio on Friday: “It is a moment where we remember those we lost, and I think for the whole country the Cenotaph is sacred ground and the idea that on a day like Remembrance Day you would have a protest going past it, I don’t think that is acceptable.
“That is why I have written to the mayor of London, and to Westminster council, and to the Metropolitan police asking them to look very carefully at the powers that they have and to consider what options they have available, because personally I don’t think this is an appropriate moment for a protest.”
London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, accused Tugendhat of “posturing”, saying: “If this security minister knew his brief, he would know the only person in the country that can ban marches is the home secretary – his colleague in cabinet.”
Khan told the PA Media news agency it was “incredibly important” that demonstrators understood the importance of Remembrance events, adding that Scotland Yard was speaking to protest organisers to “make sure they stay away from the Cenotaph”. The PSC – which pledged to avoid the area where the Cenotaph is located – said Sunak’s comments were “deeply irresponsible” and that they encouraged calls from far-right activists for action to stop the protests.
Ben Jamal, the director of the PSC, said: “Given the wider context of the previous statements by the home secretary seeking to demonise all of those marching in support of the rights of the Palestinian people, it is clear that these comments are in reality motivated by a desire to suppress widespread public support for an end to Israel’s bombardment of the people of Gaza.
“Each of the protests we have called have been peaceful, orderly, and attended by hundreds of thousands of demonstrators from a diverse cross-section of British society.”
Sunak was also criticised by Yasmine Ahmed, the UK director of Human Rights Watch, who said: “This is a deplorable attempt by the British government to suggest that compassion for the plight of Palestinians is somehow at odds with remembering the sacrifices of British service people.”
