Met Police ban face masks at pro-Palestine October 7 march

Participants in a a pro-Palestine march marking three years since Hamas’s October 7 attacks will be banned from wearing face masks under strict new Metropolitan Police conditions.

The Met said the protest cannot be banned, and have instead repeated their request for demonstrators to call off the event.

The march is expected to take place in the capital on Wednesday.

Those taking part belong to a group of students who call themselves the University of London Coalition.

A social media post by organisers urged people to “take to the street and demand an end to the Palestinian genocide”.

The force has imposed what it described as “robust” conditions on the protest.

The group must form up at Lincoln’s Inn Fields by 12.30pm.

From there, demonstrators must follow a prescribed route to Russell Square.

The rally has to be finished by 2pm, when participants must disperse.

Face coverings that conceal a wearer’s identity are also prohibited.

The force said that anyone who breaches the conditions can be arrested.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner James Harman, who leads Met Operations including public order policing, said the event’s date “will be a day of mourning and reflection for many in London”, and acknowledged the “serious concerns that this event has caused Jewish communities in particular”.

He added: “I would like to take this opportunity – again – to call on anyone intending to join this march to please reflect on the impact and distress it will cause on this very significant date, and exercise your right to protest on a different day.”

He said there have been calls for the event to be banned.

However, the risk of serious disorder is not considered high enough for that to happen on this occasion, he said.

“We hear the calls for this event to be banned,” he said. “The police cannot ban protests and can only ask the Home Secretary to do so if the risk of serious disorder is so high that it can’t be managed by conditions.

“That high bar is not met here.”

About 1,200 people died on Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 in what has been described as the deadliest day in Jewish history since the Holocaust.

The attack sparked an all-out assault on Gaza, which has killed more than 75,000 Palestinians.