The following article is an open letter from the Palestine Coalition to Mark Rowley, the Met Police commissioner

The Palestine Coalition has today written to the Metropolitan Police commissioner, Mark Rowley, calling on him to retract his scurrilous and defamatory claims that we “set out with an intent to march near synagogues”.

Mark Rowley: lie after lie

Our letter to the Commissioner describes these claims as “incomprehensible and defamatory” and urges a “speedy retraction of the accompanying scurrilous claim of antisemitism”.

Letter in full below:

Dear Mark Rowley

We are very concerned to see that you have publicly stated that the organisers’ initial suggestion for the Palestine marches has ‘involved walking by a synagogue’ and that this sends a message that ‘feels like antisemitism’. These claims are incomprehensible and defamatory.

Our first route suggestion for the next demonstration to commemorate the Nakba, made in writing on 18 December last year, was for a march from Embankment to Whitehall, via Westminster and Waterloo bridges, a route which we have used at least twice before and on which there are no synagogues.

After three months of silence we were finally told by your officers that this route was disallowed on the grounds that Tommy Robinson’s far right demonstration – a real hate march – was inexplicably going to be granted the whole political centre of London, and that we would have to march elsewhere.

Our second suggestion, made after much protest, was that we march from the Israeli Embassy via Knightsbridge to Trafalgar Square – again, a route that does not go past a synagogue, and one previously agreed by the police. This too has been disallowed, and a shorter route has been arbitrarily imposed.

The truth is that at no point have we ever requested to ‘walk by’ a synagogue on any of our marches. We have no interest in doing so. Police recordings of our meetings with you will confirm this.

We can and will provide the email evidence to back up these facts. It is completely unacceptable for a senior public official to make these false claims and accusations, which can only raise the level of tension in the current situation.

We urge a speedy public retraction of your statement and the accompanying scurrilous claim of antisemitism.

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