It is time for a ban, before the intifada comes here

Another weekend in which central London was turned into a no-go zone for Jews, with marchers happy to tell our Demonstration and Event Monitoring Unit that they support Hamas and with calls for a violent intifada ringing throughout the capital.

Past intifadas were campaigns of violence, including suicide bombings. We do not want one in London.

As we approach Remembrance weekend, where we remember the heroes who defended our freedoms and fought against antisemitic hatred, we must honour their memory by banning demonstrations that abuse those freedoms to call for violence against Jews.

We are therefore calling on Sir Mark Rowley, Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, to use his powers under section 13 of the Public Order Act 1986 to ban next week’s march.

Section 13 powers allow the police to prohibit processions if other powers under the Act do no suffice to prevent serious public disorder. As we have seen over the past month, that threshold is now met.

Please take a moment to write to your MP in a few clicks to ask them to write to the Met Commissioner. Since these marches are billed as “national” marches, please write regardless of whether you live in a London constituency.

While some arrests are being made, the police are so outnumbered that they cannot ensure the safety of Londoners, in particular the Jewish community.

If you or your routine have been adversely affected by these marches, please let us know by completing this short form. It will help us to make legal representations to the police in support of limiting or banning further demonstrations of this nature.

Our legal team is processing hundreds of cases and making reports to the police, and our Online Monitoring and Investigations Unit is assisting in identifying suspects when the Met cannot. We will continue to do so, but this alone cannot stem the tide of criminality on our streets: it is time for a ban.

We continue to engage with the police, public bodies and political parties in a variety of ways:

• More than 20,000 people have signed our petition calling on the police to reclaim our streets. You can join them by signing here: Sir Mark Rowley, give London back to Londoners. 
  
• Leading lawyers, including 15 King’s Counsel, signed our open letter calling on the Met to impose restrictions on the weekly marchers.
  
• We signed a letter to the Charity Commission calling for an immediate investigation into mosques with charitable status that have allowed sermons glorifying terrorism, inciting violence and propagating antisemitic tropes. We are also submitting specific complaints to the Commission.
  
• Our Demonstrations and Monitoring Unit continues to capture evidence from anti-Israel protests across the country, including genocidal chanting outside Downing Street when the Prime Minister met with the US Vice President.
  
• We have called for the proscription of Hizb ut-Tahrir, and made reports of serious alleged offences to the police.
  
• We have convened a letter from prominent figures to Sir Keir Starmer, urging him to direct unions affiliated to the Labour Party to end their association with the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which has organised many of these hate marches.
  
• We have called out the double standards of football clubs prohibiting open support for Israel.
  
• We continue to work with victims of antisemitism, including families at a North London school where “Kill the Jews” graffiti and a swastika were drawn in a toilet.
  
• We spoke at a rally of thousands gathered in Parliament Square in support of the families of the hostages taken by Hamas, demanding with one voice: #BringThemHome.
  
• We are making final preparations for a renewed campaign to raise awareness of the plight of the hostages, after the police shut down our vans two weeks ago.

The intifada was a campaign of horrific violence that saw suicide bombings and brutal murder on a national scale. We cannot allow it to come here. The police must ban these marches now.