Overview
- Pro-Palestine groups sent a formal letter to Metropolitan Police chief Mark Rowley demanding he withdraw a claim that organisers often try to route marches past synagogues.
- Rowley told The Times that initial route suggestions for some demonstrations involved walking by a synagogue and said that this feels like antisemitism.
- The Met said its comments referred to the whole period since October 2023, citing about 30 large marches, with roughly half of initial proposals near or past synagogues and 20 route or form-up changes to protect Jewish communities.
- Organisers denied ever asking to pass a synagogue, offered meeting recordings and emails as proof, and said police rejected two recent route proposals that did not include synagogues, including one blocked because a separate Tommy Robinson event was given central London.
- The row unfolds as officials examine community safety after recent attacks on Jewish people and sites, with counter-terrorism police probing a suspected arson at a former synagogue and Downing Street convening talks on antisemitism.