A coalition of major British campaign groups coordinating nationwide pro-Palestine demonstrations has pushed back aggressively against growing political and media efforts to discredit their movement and impose a full ban on planned protests, affirming that the fundamental democratic right to protest remains non-negotiable.
In an official statement released Friday evening, the coalition — which includes the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), Stop the War Coalition, and Friends of al-Aqsa — confirmed that the annual Nakba Day commemoration march scheduled for central London on May 16 will go ahead as planned, despite mounting pressure from Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s administration to cancel the event.
The backlash against the protests erupted in the wake of a fatal stabbing attack earlier this month in Golders Green, a majority-Jewish neighbourhood in northwest London. A 45-year-old Somali-born British national, Essa Suleiman, was arrested on suspicion of stabbing two Jewish men, aged 34 and 76, shortly after he was accused of attempting to murder a Muslim acquaintance he had known for 20 years. London’s Metropolitan Police confirmed Friday that Suleiman, who had been released from a psychiatric facility just days before the attacks, has been charged with three counts of attempted murder and one count of illegal public possession of a bladed weapon, with no terrorism charges brought against him.
Despite the lack of any proven link between the attack and pro-Palestine demonstrations, senior political figures including Prime Minister Starmer have publicly tied the violence to the marches, called for sweeping restrictions on protest activity, and opened the door to a full national ban. In an interview with the BBC’s *Today* programme Saturday, Starmer argued that law enforcement should crack down on rhetoric used during marches, specifically calling out the chant “globalise the intifada”, and suggested a legal case existed to ban the demonstrations entirely. Though no antisemitic attacks in the UK have ever been linked to use of this chant, British police forces launched a policy in December 2023 allowing arrests for anyone chanting the phrase or displaying it on protest placards.
When asked about a proposed moratorium on all pro-Palestine marches — a suggestion put forward by Jonathan Hall, the UK government’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation — Starmer said his administration would explore expanding state powers to restrict repeated protests, citing feedback from members of the UK Jewish community about the cumulative impact of regular demonstrations. The prime minister acknowledged that views on the Gaza conflict are widely held and legitimate, but maintained that new restrictions were necessary.
Starmer’s remarks have drawn fierce condemnation not only from protest organisers, but also from senior community leaders and policy analysts who warn that tying the unrelated Golders Green attack to peaceful pro-Palestine protest is a dangerous distortion of facts. Senior north London rabbi Herschel Gluck, a prominent Jewish community figure, rejected any causal link between the marches and the stabbing, noting that banning protests over antisemitism concerns would be counterproductive given the high participation rate of Jewish activists in the rallies. “There are many Jews who participate in the marches. Pro rata, there are more Jews than any other community. And the idea of banning speech is something that is a very un-Jewish thing to do,” Gluck told Middle East Eye.
Lindsey German, convenor of the Stop the War Coalition, framed Starmer’s call for a ban as a direct attack on core British democratic freedoms. “The marches are protests at the role of the Israeli government in its genocidal attacks on Gaza, and at the complicity of Starmer’s own government in supporting Israel,” German said. “This is an attack on our freedom of speech and long held right to assembly and we will not give up that right.”
Global Justice Now director Nick Dearden accused Starmer of cynical political opportunism tied to upcoming UK local elections, arguing the prime minister is stoking division to avoid electoral losses rather than fostering national unity. “Demanding Israel stops its genocidal rampage on Palestine is clearly not antisemitic, and by trying to draw the comparison, Starmer is belittling antisemitism,” Dearden said. “Starmer’s government is utterly complicit in Israel’s war crimes. He has blood on his hands and now risks further fuelling antisemitism, rather than taking the important steps necessary to undermine it.”
PSC director Ben Jamal added that using an isolated act of violence to strip citizens of their democratic right to protest weakens, rather than strengthens, global anti-racist efforts. Daniel Levy, a British-Israeli analyst and former advisor to the Israeli government, called the call for a moratorium on protest “appalling”, warning that it risks increasing antisemitism rather than increasing community safety. “You can’t have a false dichotomy between Jewish safety and Palestinian rights,” Levy told Channel 4 News. “First we’ll be told you can’t protest on this and then you won’t be able to protest on anything and then we’re living in a fundamentally different society.”
In their formal statement, the protest coalition reaffirmed the purpose of the May 16 rally: to mark the annual commemoration of the Nakba, the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians during the 1948 establishment of the state of Israel, and to oppose the British government’s ongoing diplomatic and military support for what the groups call Israel’s ethnic cleansing, apartheid, and genocidal campaign in Gaza. The rally will also counter a far-right march organised by British agitator Tommy Robinson, scheduled to take place in London the same day.
Organisers stressed that as with all previous pro-Palestine marches, thousands of Jewish activists will participate, including a dedicated Jewish Bloc, with many Jewish organisers and speakers featured on the event program. The ongoing Israeli military campaign in Gaza, which began after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks, has killed at least 72,601 Palestinians and wounded more than 172,400, according to Gaza-based medical officials. Since a recent ceasefire ended, Israeli strikes have killed an additional 824 Palestinians, wounded 2,316, and left 764 people dead under destroyed buildings, local health authorities report.