This is a seriously disingenuous post from the Met Police. As usual, @MetPoliceUK are complaining that their hands are tied and that they are powerless to act. That’s simply not true. Under section 11 of the Public Order Act 1986, the Met must be provided with the name and address of the march’s organiser. This has not happened, so the march is illegal. Furthermore, the Met seems to be saying that they feel that the march does not meet the conditions for calling for a ban under section 13 of the Act, so they will not even ask the Home Secretary to give her permission to ban it. She cannot instigate the banning process under the law, and can only make a decision in response to a request from the Met Commissioner. Why will he not at least make the case and seek her decision? Worse, the Met seems not to have imposed any conditions on the march at all. The Met can (without needing anyone’s permission) curtail the route, timing and numbers of people on any march that may cause “serious disruption to the life of the community”. That would be a use of existing powers under section 12 of the Act. The Met can ban face coverings. The Met can mobilise sufficient resources to arrest those who flout the law (and actually hand them over to the CPS to prosecute them rather than letting them all go at the end of the day). But so far, we are being told in private conversations that the Met has classed the march as “low risk” – though the Met denies this. If the Met does not classify an illegal march by extremists on the anniversary of the worst antisemitic atrocity since the Holocaust as causing “serious disruption to the life of the community”, then what is the point of having the laws at all? A few months ago the Met banned a UKIP march in Tower Hamlets without hesitation. But when it comes to the Palestine hate marches, they always plead impotence. It is two tier policing. Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley keeps saying that the law is inadequate and he needs more powers in order to do anything meaningful, but even now he is not using his existing powers. What is inadequate is his performance over the past three years, when antisemitic hate crime has risen to unprecedented levels – a clear failure of policing for which he has never been held to account. He must resign over this disgrace and the many travesties that have preceded it.