UK PM Sunak Calls Planned Armistice Day Pro-Palestinian Protests 'Provocative', Receives Backing from BBC Presenter Gary Lineker
Sunak urges Metropolitan Police to ensure Remembrance events are not disrupted, while critics and supporters clash over whether the protest constitutes a "hate march" or a peaceful demonstration.
- UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak urges the Metropolitan Police force to employ robust tactics to ensure Remembrance events are not disrupted by pro-Palestinian protests scheduled for Armistice Day.
- Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, supports Sunak's call to ban the protests, referring to them as 'hate marches', thus provoking a nationwide debate on whether these demonstrations constitute 'hate marches' or peaceful protests.
- BBC presenter and former England striker, Gary Lineker, publicly backs the pro-Palestinian demonstrators, stating that 'marching for peace so that more innocent children don't get killed is not really the definition of hate march'.
- Despite the PM's concerns about potential desecration of war memorials, protest organizers assure that they have no plans to be near the Cenotaph and understand the sensitivity of the date, agreeing to cooperate with the police to keep demonstrations peaceful.
- Sunak writes a letter to Met Police chief Sir Mark Rowley expressing the government's full support and concern over potential disruptions of Remembrance activities amid criticisms from organisations like Human Rights Watch, which sees his comments as an attack on democratic freedoms.