Should any marches around or near the Cenotaph this weekend not be allowed?

The claim that the marches have been entirely peaceful is untrue. 29 people were arrested and 6 were charged at one of the marches, with two of the offenders being in court today. Like the claim that the BLM marches were entirely peaceful even though 19 police officers were assaulted and injured. These numbers may not be huge, but they are the very tip of the iceberg, as much anti social behaviour on marches is tolerated by our police. An entirely peaceful match would entail no arrests, no one injured, no one threatened, no calls for jihadi, or from the river to the sea chanting, and certainly no court appearances.

It is extremely worrying that Tommy Robinson and his band of merry thugs have decided, apparently, to inflame the situation. I find that inappropriate and is likely to lead to disorder.

I understand why you have decided to cancel the visit to London this year GrannyGravy. I was concerned myself recently on a visit to London with my daughter and grandchildren, visiting from New Zealand, shortly after the events of 7/10. My nine year old grandson is a very anxious little boy, and I was afraid of any unrest blowing up. I knew it would upset him and increase his anxiety. However as it was midweek there were no marches, and after initial unsettlement with the unusual sounds, sights, and crowds making him nervous, he settled and enjoyed the visit. I wouldn’t expect a person without children or grandchildren to understand this though.

Anniebach

Exactly GrannyGravy yet the Cenotaph is under 24 hour police guard because of Robinson, so not true

Peace March ? ‘From the river to the sea’,

Yep, I wonder if all who join the chants know the relevance of that phrase.

Exactly GrannyGravy yet the Cenotaph is under 24 hour police guard because of Robinson, so not true

Peace March ? ‘From the river to the sea’,

GrannyGravy13

Anniebach

Robinson followers want to deface the Cenotaph ?

No they want to protect it in case any of the Free Gaza protesters deface it.

A cenotaph up North was defaced with Free Palestine graffiti earlier this week.

Well, that just shows sheer ignorance and an insult to all those Muslim servicemen who fought on the side of the Allies in WW2.

Anniebach

Robinson followers want to deface the Cenotaph ?

No they want to protect it in case any of the Free Gaza protesters deface it.

A cenotaph up North was defaced with Free Palestine graffiti earlier this week.

Robinson followers want to deface the Cenotaph ?

Anniebach

All fault lies with Baverman and Robinson , not true

Why would those reacting to Robinson deface the Cenotaph?

I am 100% against demo’s this weekend and certainly not because of Baverman of Robinson

I am inclined to agree.

Neither the supposed Peace March nor Robinson's lot should be on the streets this weekend.

Dinahmo

Anniebach

No other events are expected !

Police guarding the Cenotaph, why ?

This is why:

Now English Defence League founder Tommy Robinson has spoken out against the demo, saying: “British men are mobilising for Saturday to be in London” to “show our Government and show our police and show Hamas and everyone sitting around the world saying ‘Britain has fallen’ that there is a resistance”.

A call to arms has also been issued on social media by the Democratic Football Lads Alliance, a right-wing organisation that uses football fan networks to spread Islamophobic hate.

A post on the group’s Facebook page says: “Vets have reached out and asked for our support due to the threat from the far-left and pro-Palestinian supporters to disrupt the Remembrance Day parade.

“We are calling on all football lads up and down the country to join us in standing shoulder to shoulder with our veterans that fought for our freedom.”

These thugs will be out in force trying to disrupt the march and they should not be allowed to.

Braverman with her rhetoric has been stirring up the populace into believing that the majority of people on the march are Islamists.

What utter rubbish he spouts.

Who on earth does he think he's defending - he's not fit to clean the boots of any of those veterans who will be there this weekend.

GrannyGravy13

Several regions in France banned pro Palestinian marches last weekend, and have banned them for this weekend.

There reasons, they may insight violence due to their chants and banners.

The Interior Minister issued instructions that all pro Palestine marches should be banned : “because they are likely to generate public order disturbances.”

However: France’s top administrative court has since ruled against a blanket ban on demonstrations that support Palestinians, but it granted that local authorities could block protests on a case-by-case basis, and that “in the current context, marked by strong international tensions and the resurgence of anti-Semitic acts in France,” demonstrations in support of Hamas or attacks on Israel raised legitimate public order concerns.

There have been marches last weekend and this weekend numerous marches will be taking place all over France, including some against anti Semitism.

Those that we are remembering this weekend died for freedom and peace.

I am sure that they would be totally in favour of anyone exercising their freedom of speech peacefully this weekend - particularly the peace March that goes nowhere near, nor ever intended to go near the cenotaph. These peace marches have been entirely peaceful for the past month, there is no reason why they shouldn’t be so tomorrow.

I would certainly have no hesitation in going to London.

Anniebach

All fault lies with Baverman and Robinson , not true

Why would those reacting to Robinson deface the Cenotaph?

I am 100% against demo’s this weekend and certainly not because of Baverman of Robinson

I agree with you Anniebach

One weekend without marches/protests is not too much to ask.

Dinahmo

GrannyGravy13

No idea where you live DAR but for those of us who go up to London fairly frequently these marches are rather intimidating.

It’s not just the march, it’s the 1,000’s of extra people in the capital, on public transport and on the roads etc. etc.

Saturday morning is the Lord Mayors Show, where there will be 1,000’s of families lining the route along with many 100’s participating in the parade.

We have chosen not to go to the parade and cancelled a family meal in central London as none of us were comfortable taking 6 and 12yr olds into a situation that they will in all probability find scary.

How many other families will change their plans for the weekend, how many hospitality venues will lose takings?

Do you mean to say that your GCs will be scared of standing with all the others watching the Lord Mayor's Parade. That route goes no where near the route of the other march and I doubt very much that any troublemakers will be going into the City of London.

No they will not be scared watching the parade.

We were in London for dinner a couple of weeks on a Saturday evening. There were 100’s of people still milling around complete with flags and face coverings long after the march had finished.

We as a family are not comfortable putting children in a situation which could turn at any time.

All fault lies with Baverman and Robinson , not true

Why would those reacting to Robinson deface the Cenotaph?

I am 100% against demo’s this weekend and certainly not because of Baverman of Robinson

GrannyGravy13

No idea where you live DAR but for those of us who go up to London fairly frequently these marches are rather intimidating.

It’s not just the march, it’s the 1,000’s of extra people in the capital, on public transport and on the roads etc. etc.

Saturday morning is the Lord Mayors Show, where there will be 1,000’s of families lining the route along with many 100’s participating in the parade.

We have chosen not to go to the parade and cancelled a family meal in central London as none of us were comfortable taking 6 and 12yr olds into a situation that they will in all probability find scary.

How many other families will change their plans for the weekend, how many hospitality venues will lose takings?

Do you mean to say that your GCs will be scared of standing with all the others watching the Lord Mayor's Parade. That route goes no where near the route of the other march and I doubt very much that any troublemakers will be going into the City of London.

Anniebach

No other events are expected !

Police guarding the Cenotaph, why ?

This is why:

Now English Defence League founder Tommy Robinson has spoken out against the demo, saying: “British men are mobilising for Saturday to be in London” to “show our Government and show our police and show Hamas and everyone sitting around the world saying ‘Britain has fallen’ that there is a resistance”.

A call to arms has also been issued on social media by the Democratic Football Lads Alliance, a right-wing organisation that uses football fan networks to spread Islamophobic hate.

A post on the group’s Facebook page says: “Vets have reached out and asked for our support due to the threat from the far-left and pro-Palestinian supporters to disrupt the Remembrance Day parade.

“We are calling on all football lads up and down the country to join us in standing shoulder to shoulder with our veterans that fought for our freedom.”

These thugs will be out in force trying to disrupt the march and they should not be allowed to.

Braverman with her rhetoric has been stirring up the populace into believing that the majority of people on the march are Islamists.

No other events are expected !

Police guarding the Cenotaph, why ?

No idea where you live DAR but for those of us who go up to London fairly frequently these marches are rather intimidating.

It’s not just the march, it’s the 1,000’s of extra people in the capital, on public transport and on the roads etc. etc.

Saturday morning is the Lord Mayors Show, where there will be 1,000’s of families lining the route along with many 100’s participating in the parade.

We have chosen not to go to the parade and cancelled a family meal in central London as none of us were comfortable taking 6 and 12yr olds into a situation that they will in all probability find scary.

How many other families will change their plans for the weekend, how many hospitality venues will lose takings?

maddyone

I agree with you GrannyGravy. For this weekend only, I think the police should use the powers they have to prevent marches, other than the Remembrance marches on Sunday, this weekend only. The police are showing more respect to the marches than to the memory of the dead, in both the world wars and more recent conflicts, including Afghanistan, Iraq, the Falkland Islands, and Northern Ireland.

Why? On the Saturday, Armistice Day not Remembrance Sunday, those making use of their free speech will assemble two miles from the Senataph and much later than when we, in our Supermarkets, cars or at home will mark the two minutes silence. A silence which has been a tradition since 1990.

On Remembrance Sunday the The National Service of Remembrance, held at The Cenotaph in Whitehall will take place. No other events are expected.

The police are answerable to the government but must remain independant of it. Hitler first centralised the police and then used them to help with the process of nazification. The Communists used the Stazi in East Germany to turn friend against friend, neighbour against neighbour and family member against family member.

Whatever do people think they are going to get if they support Braverman.

NotSpaghetti

He was not sent. He is freelance.
The photo is many years old by the way.

Thanks NotSpaghetti
I probably should have started or posted on another thread, but topics morph all the time.
If you notice I did use the word 'freelance'.
He took self videos at the festival.
Does being friendly enough for a kiss, at any time, with a Hamas leader seem like a good idea?

Yes, I know that Devorgilla. I am very hot on safety in schools. I am pleased to hear the schools you visited had procedures in place. What I meant was, that I questioned the knee jerk reaction to close the school a couple of days after the Hamas massacre when the schools had no evidence they were in any danger at all. (I think it was the Rabbi who advised closing). Fair enough once the fighting started.
But then I'm one of those would have preferred to not close schools during covid, though that isn't for this thread.
I agree it's the spin off sideshows that will require additional policing over the weekend.

Joseann, there is nothing new about Jewish schools taking extra security precautions. I was an inspector for Exam Boards in London for a few years. I am talking a good 20+ years ago. I inspected all types of secondary school, private, state, religious. It was only, in those days, the Jewish schools that had extra security at the gate. The first questions were always, "Are you expected? With whom do you have an appointment?" I had to point out that the whole purpose of an inspection is that it is unexpected. I was never refused permission to enter but was well aware of the fear of the unexpected. Today, of course, most schools have some form of vetting visitors but for different reasons.
I still believe, as I pointed out in a previous post, the marches, other than the Remembrance ones, will be orderly but you can't police all the sideshows until they become the problem.

No. I didn't know either, buffyfly9.
It was the radio programme The Moral Maze that drew my attention to it.

Thank you NotSpaghetti, That was a very interesting article about the Cenotaph, I had no idea there was so much dissent about it at the time.

Rowantree

Can you ask?
Not only woul I not be happy, I would call it out. Certainly that particular message is inflammatory and extremely dubious.
In an ideal world the organisers should vet any such extreme messages because they do us no favours.
That is still not an argument to ban the march.

Therein lies the problem, the organisers do not vet the people on the marches, nor do the ban certain flags, banners or chants.

Everyone knows the meaning behind From the River to the sea , calls for Jihad and Infitada (sp)

If the marches are so innocent why do so many of the men cover their faces? I understand if the women are covering their faces for religious reasons, but the men…

I haven’t seen anyone at the vigils for the hostages held by Hamas with their faces covered.

Can you ask?
Not only woul I not be happy, I would call it out. Certainly that particular message is inflammatory and extremely dubious.
In an ideal world the organisers should vet any such extreme messages because they do us no favours.
That is still not an argument to ban the march.