KEIR Starmer has urged people planning to attend pro-Palestine protests this weekend to “respect the grief of British Jews” as he said demonstrations could cause further pain to mourners.
The Prime Minister told activists to reconsider whether they should attend pro-Palestine protests, days after two people were killed and others were injured during a terror attack on a synagogue in Manchester.
Writing in The Jewish Chronicle, Starmer said: “I urge anyone thinking about protesting this weekend to recognise and respect the grief of British Jews this week.
“This is a moment of mourning. It is not a time to stoke tension and cause further pain.”
He added that protesting in the wake of the terror attack and "just a few days before the anniversary of the October 7 attacks" would cause "distress".
It comes as Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar said he had spoken to Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper and urged the Labour Government to “fight the pro-Palestinian marches and protests”.
Several major protests are set to go ahead this weekend, including one in Central London organised by Defend Our Juries.
The Metropolitan Police had urged the protest group to call of the demonstration, leading them to say: "Cancelling peaceful protests lets terror win."
Met Police Commissioner Mark Rowley said: “At a time when we want to be deploying every available officer to ensure the safety of those communities, we are instead having to plan for a gathering of more than 1000 people in Trafalgar Square on Saturday in support of a terrorist organisation.
“By deliberately choosing to encourage mass law breaking on this scale, Defend Our Juries are drawing valuable resources away from the communities of London at a time when they are needed most.”
He added: “Continuing such protests within hours of Thursday’s awful terrorist murder of British Jews, when communities are most fearful, will likely create further tensions and some might say lacks sensitivity.”
The Met Police raised concerns about the strain on police resources, with officers being deployed to synagogues and other Jewish buildings to offer protection and reassurance in the aftermath of the terror attack.
A Defend Our Juries spokesman said it “stood in solidarity” with the Jewish community over the attack.
He said: “It couldn’t be clearer that tomorrow’s action, which is in Trafalgar Square and not near any synagogue, is about defying the Government’s absurdly authoritarian proscription of Palestine Action and the Government’s complicity in the genocide being committed by the Israeli government.
“Yesterday’s attack was actual terrorism and we join others across the country in condemning it unreservedly and we urge the Home Secretary and the police to prioritise protecting the community, instead of arresting entirely peaceful protesters.
“Cancelling peaceful protests lets terror win.
“It’s more important than ever to defend our democracy, including our fundamental rights to peaceful protest and freedom of speech, and to take a stand tomorrow against killing and against oppression, and for peace and justice for all.”
North of the Border, an emergency demonstration has been organised in Glasgow on Sunday in response to Israel's interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla.
And on Saturday, protesters will gather outside Bute House in Edinburgh to call on the terrorism charges brought against pro-Palestine activists to be dropped.
