IHRC has again written to the head of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Mark Rowley, to protest about the force’s application of double standards in its policing of pro-Palestine demonstrations in the capital.

The letter points to the Met’s failure to arrest pro-Israel marchers who directed Nazi slurs at anti-Zionist Jews during the national March for anti-Semitism on 26 November 2023. Video footage of this demonstration shows pro-Israel protestors shouting “Judenrat” at their anti-Israeli co-religionists. Judenrat is a slur used by Jews to describe Nazi collaborators.

It asks Sir Rowley for an assurance that the people in the video have been arrested for racially and religiously aggravated harassment and abuse.

The letter contrasts the way the heavy handedness of the Met in arresting pro-Palestine protestors for more innocuous activities, such as holding banners in the Arabic language, which arresting officers themselves admit to not knowing the meaning of.

The latest letter follows a complaint made to the force earlier this month by twelve human rights and media organisations accusing the Met, which has been beset with allegations of racism, of bias in the way they have handled pro-Palestine demonstrations in the capital London since the Israeli assault on Gaza began in early October.

It accused the Met of allowing itself to be influenced by the highly inflammatory and politicised representation of these demonstrations by their detractors in the media, government and Zionist lobby. This has led to the implementation of a biased policing strategy which is heavy handed and excessive for pro-Palestinian demonstrators but overly indulgent towards pro-Zionists who appear to be breaking the law.

The full letter is available to read here.

For more information or comment please contact the Press Office Press Office on (+44) 208 904 0222  or (+44) 7958 522196 or email media@ihrc.org [ENDS]

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IHRC is an NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.
Islamic Human Rights Commission
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Telephone (+44) 20 8904 4222
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