Ahead of England’s March Against Antisemitism on Sunday, September 7th, it appears that the London Metropolitan Police has been working actively to undermine it.
The Met stands accused of having liaised with protest organisers as to whether and how the marchers should pass the BBC headquarters on Portland Place. This location matters because of the criticism that the national broadcaster has attracted for alleged bias in its coverage of Israel since the October 7th pogrom—not least a ‘documentary’ narrated by the son of a Hamas official.
Last month organisers were told that Portland Place was a “fundamentally unsuitable starting location”—despite its frequent use this way. The Met’s refusals then extended to Jewish protestors passing the premises, based on the following police criteria:
- Parking bays would need to be suspended.
- Nearby Regent Street is “unsafe.”
- An objection had been raised by “the business community.”
Queried on these points—including the identity of this mysterious “business community”—the police responded with an August 14th email, which explicitly asked campaigners for a different route suggestion “that avoids the BBC vicinity.” Fortunately, tenacious representatives of the Campaign Against Antisemitism didn’t back down. In the final version of the agreed march route, Jewish protesters will be able to pause outside Portland Place to protest the paucity and partiality of the BBC’s Israel coverage—including that of BBC Arabic.
Is this more ‘two-tier’ policing? Within the past six months, pro-Hezbollah Iranian stooge group the Islamic Human Rights Commission held its 2025 Al Quds Day at a specific venue near Regent Street. In the near future, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign will be holding a September 17th demonstration—starting outside the BBC on Portland Place.
As veteran Jewish journalist David Collier observed,
Jewish concerns are consistently brushed aside, while groups hostile to the Jewish community are indulged … This is not just about one march. It is about whether Britain’s Jewish community is treated with fairness and respect by its own police force. The events of the past few weeks suggest otherwise.
