UK Home Secretary urges end to Pro-Palestine protests
3 Min Read
Shabana Mahmood has called on organizers to cancel a pro-Palestine protest in Trafalgar Square, citing the recent Manchester synagogue attack.
-
Britain's Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood speaks during the annual Labour Party conference in Liverpool, England, Monday, Sept. 29, 2025 (AP)
UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has stated that organizers of the pro-Palestine marches should call off their planned demonstrations, citing the recent attack on a Manchester synagogue.
The Home Secretary, in a show of support for police chiefs who have called for the cancellation of a major demonstration planned for Saturday in Trafalgar Square, has backed these calls. She further claimed the protesters are "un-British", "dishonourable", and "insensitive" to Jewish communities. The demonstration comes as the death toll from the Israeli genocide in Gaza surges past 66,000 since October 7.
“They’re not listening, and I’m very disappointed. I don’t think they do their cause any favours by behaving in this way," she claimed, adding, “If the point of protest is to stand up for something and persuade other people that you are right, then I think this is entirely the wrong way to go about it, but that is on their conscience."
'Dishonorable', 'un-British' behavior for potesting
The Home Secretary further went on to claim that the behaviour of the protesters is "fundamentally un-British", describing them as "dishonourable" and stating, "I would have wanted those individuals to just take a step back.”
“Just because we have freedoms in this country doesn’t mean to say we have to use them at every moment. Sometimes an act of kindness to allow people the chance to process what has happened and to grieve is in line with our British values, which should show some love and some solidarity to people who are suffering," Mahmoud stated.
According to a report from The Guardian on October 1, which cited the organization Defend Our Juries, a mass protest planned for October 4 against the ban on the pro-Palestine group Palestine Action could potentially set a record for the largest number of arrests in a single act of civil disobedience.
A spokesperson, who told The Guardian that Saturday “could see arrests rise to nearly double the current total of 1,600,” described the event as “a new record for mass arrests and an extraordinary misuse of counterterror and police resources.”
The spokesperson further stated that those targeted range from priests and clergy to students and retired healthcare workers, describing the arrests as “a scandal that strips us of our fundamental rights to free expression and protest; not for our safety, but to protect arms manufacturers and enable Israel to continue slaughtering the Palestinian people.”
