UK police plan ‘unprecedented’ operation to prevent trouble at weekend protests
Key takeaways
- London has recently seen a spate of arson attacks on Jewish sites, and two Jewish men were stabbed last month in an incident being treated as terrorism.
- Friday is Nakba Day, when Palestinians commemorate the loss of their land after the 1948 war at the birth of the state of Israel. “Nakba” means catastrophe in Arabic.
- Meanwhile, rallies fronted by Yaxley-Lennon, who counts U.S. billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk among his supporters, have led to anti-Muslim chanting and violence, Harman said.
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Add ARY News on Google AAResize London police said on Wednesday they would mount an “unprecedented” operation this weekend to prevent violence and serious disorder when two large protests – anti-immigration and pro-Palestinian – take place in the UK capital.
At least 80,000 people are expected in London on Saturday for the two demonstrations – a pro-Palestinian march marking Nakba Day and another ‘Unite the Kingdom’ rally organised by the anti-Islam activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, better known by his pseudonym Tommy Robinson.
With the soccer FA Cup final also being staged at Wembley in the northwest of the capital, and against a backdrop of global tensions, recent antisemitic attacks, and a raising of Britain’s terrorism threat level, police said they would be using “the most assertive possible use of our powers” to forestall trouble.