Radical Protests Banned in Muslim-Majority Tower Hamlets

A United Kingdom Independence Party (Ukip) demonstration has been banned from taking place in an area with a large Muslim population because of a “realistic prospect of serious disorder”, police have said.

The political party has accused the Metropolitan Police of two-tier policing and caving in to sectarian violence.

The event, which was initially advertised as a march from Whitechapel station in east London and later changed to an assembly in the same area, was due to take place on Saturday afternoon, according to the Metropolitan Police.

The demonstration was part of a series of events across Britain advertised as a “mass deportations tour”, with organisers calling on attendees to “reclaim Whitechapel from the Islamists”, the force said.

A counter-protest, organised by Stand Up To Racism and a number of local groups, was also expected, police added.

On Tuesday, police said they had imposed Public Order Act conditions, meaning Ukip cannot hold its protest in Whitechapel or anywhere else in the borough of Tower Hamlets.

Residents concerned about protest

Commander Nick John, who is in charge of the public order policing operation in London this weekend, said: “Tower Hamlets has the largest percentage of Muslim residents anywhere in the UK and the prospect of this protest taking place in the heart of the borough has been the cause of significant concern locally.

“It is our assessment that there is a realistic prospect of serious disorder if it was to go ahead in the proposed location.

“This is in addition to the disruption that two large protests taking place on a key arterial route through east London would cause.”

He added: “Ukip are free to organise their protest in an alternative location, but they will not be holding it in Tower Hamlets. Anyone who tries to assemble, in breach of the conditions, or who encourages others to do so, will face arrest.”

A spokesman for UKIP said the party was “outraged” that the march had been cancelled and accused the Met of two-tier policing.

He told The Telegraph: “We have been informed by the police that their intelligence indicates that far-Left and Islamist protest groups were planning disorder.

“So why was our peaceful march banned, but no moves were made to ban the counter protest from ‘Stand Up To Racism’?”

Police ‘pander to sectarian violence’

The spokesman added that the Met Police had not cancelled a pro-Palestine march after the Manchester synagogue attack on Oct 2, which ended up turning violent outside Downing Street.

He said: “This was a chance for the Met Police to show they are on the side of democracy and stand for legal protest and freedom of speech, and it is a shame to watch a once-noble police force pander to sectarian violence.

“Following the disastrous decision from West Midlands Police to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from attending an Aston Villa game due to a threat of violence from the local Muslim community – which has received widespread condemnation, including from the Home Secretary – the Met Police have not learned their lesson and continue this trend of appeasing sectarian violence, at the detriment of democracy.”

UKIP has vowed to instead gather at the London Oratory, in South Kensington, and march to Speaker’s Corner.

Lutfur Rahman, mayor of Tower Hamlets, said the UKIP demonstration “would have caused significant disruption and intimidation in our local community, and spread fear and prejudice”.

He wrote on X: “We will still hold our peaceful march in Whitechapel on Saturday to celebrate our diversity and unity.

“From the Battle of Cable Street to today, the far Fight has never succeeded in dividing our community and they never will.”

Ukip was founded in the 1990s with the help of now-Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, who later went on to lead the party.

Mr Farage quit Ukip in December 2018, saying he was uncomfortable with the direction the party had taken, having criticised then-leader Gerard Batten for appointing English Defence League (EDL) founder Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, as an adviser.

‘A breach of our democratic right’

According to the party’s website, its current campaigns include the “complete rejection of wokeness, trans-ideology”, the “rejection and condemnation of Islamism” and the scrapping of all diversity, equality and inclusion agendas.

Speaking in a video posted on X, Ukip leader Nick Tenconi said he was “disgusted” with the police decision to move the march, which he said was a “direct breach of our democratic right to peaceful assembly”.

He added: “This is two-tier policing at its worst, and the Met have, at best, signified they have lost control of the streets of London, or at worst, are complicit with the Islamists in stifling our democracy.”

Stop the War, a campaign group that counts Jeremy Corbyn as its deputy president, wrote on social media: “When Ukip and its Nazi-saluting leader come to Whitechapel next Saturday, we need the biggest numbers.

“We must make Whitechapel our Cable Street. They shall not pass!”

The Battle of Cable Street involved thousands of Londoners halting a march of Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists in the East End of London on Oct 4 1936.

The clash was celebrated as a victory in stemming the alarming spread of fascism, though 73 police officers were injured and 15 people were sent to the hospital.