Sadiq Khan calls for unifying pro-Palestine protests

City's mayor shares his concerns over those 'sowing the seeds of division' among communities

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan holds a multifaith roundtable with Jewish and Muslim faith leaders at City Hall in the capital. PA

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has urged pro-Palestine protesters to consider the impact of their demonstrations, citing concerns from the city’s Jewish community.

His comments came after activists staged a sit-in at Liverpool Street Station demanding a ceasefire in Gaza.

He said he recognised people's right to protest but asked demonstrators to be mindful of how such actions might be received by Jewish Londoners, some of whom he said would be “frightened”, even though “you may be doing nothing that’s against the law”.

Meanwhile, the London Assembly heard London was in an “awful place”, with Jews “scared stiff”, as police in the capital struggle with a wave of protests prompted by the crisis in the Middle East.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley told a policing meeting he was “deeply concerned” about the effects of protests on day-to-day local policing and that he may have to look at asking other forces for help.

Pro-Palestine demonstrations have drawn hundreds of thousands of people from across the country to London. They have been mainly peaceful, but arrests have been made, Sir Mark said.

A group prayer by Jewish activists for the people of Gaza at St Pancras Station was broken up by British Transport Police officers on Thursday. The premises of the Foreign Office and a British arms firm were smeared in red paint that same morning.

Yet there has been a 14-fold rise in anti-Semitic incidents since the war in Gaza began on October 7, while anti-Muslim incidents have tripled, he added. Footage has shown protesters tearing pictures of Israeli hostages held by Hamas from a wall in Leicester Square in the centre of the capital.

Mr Khan warned that demonstrators were contributing to “to community discord”.

The mayor highlighted the Jewish community's concerns when speaking to the London Assembly on Thursday.

“There are Londoners who are scared and frightened for no other reason than their faith,” he said.

Mr Khan met the city’s Jewish leaders on Wednesday, after which he said of the demonstrations: “It's leading to Londoners who are Jewish being scared.”

In an interview with ITV News, he said: “They're feeling very vulnerable, the rest of us should show some understanding of what they are going through.”

He has also accused some politicians of sowing the seeds of division in condemning the protests.

“What doesn’t help is politicians seeking to divide communities rather than bring them together,” he said.

At Thursday's meeting hit back at London Assembly member Susan Hall, who criticised Mr Khan and the Met Police’s handling of the demonstrations, which she said had left the Jewish community feeling “very, very scared”.

Ms Hall has in the past been accused of racism for using the term “Londonistan” in reference to the capital's growing Muslim community.

“The chutzpah of our member asking the question the way she did, bearing in mind she bears the responsibility for sowing the seeds of division takes some audacity,” said Mr Khan, using the Yiddish word for audacity.

Sir Mark told the meeting that, since the October 7 attacks, successive weekend protests in central London have been policed by 1,000 officers, then 1,500 and then by 2,000.

Police made around 70 arrests at the protests and almost 100 more for hate crimes, with anti-Jewish hate crime up 14-fold and anti-Muslim hate crime up threefold on last year, he said.

Despite claims of bias on social media, he said his officers are taking a “very well-calibrated and very well-balanced” approach to protests and related incidents.

Sir Mark said: “There isn’t a sort of perfect solution to something that’s being driven by an international crisis, but the Met Police will do everything it can do to reassure and protect Jewish communities.”

Conservative Assembly Member Susan Hall said: “OK, I accept that, but I do tell you, in the real world, they are scared stiff at the moment.”

Sir Mark replied: “I’m not disputing that.

“It’s very clear Jewish communities in London are traumatised and upset and sometimes fearful, based on events that happened overseas and the increasing hate crime in London. And that’s an awful place for us to be as a capital city, and we are doing everything we can do to tackle that.”

Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis, Britain's Jewish spiritual leader, praised Mr Khan for “his ongoing, unequivocal commitment to fighting anti-Semitism across London”, after a meeting between the two leaders on Tuesday.

But he also criticised the mayor’s calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, telling Mr Khan that his support of a truce was “irresponsible” and would be a “stepping stone to yet more Hamas terrorist brutality”.

Mr Khan last week defied the Labour Party line by calling for a ceasefire, putting him at odds with leader Keir Starmer.

He expressed his concerns over the “unprecedented rise” in anti-Semitism in the capital and said he would “always stand with Jewish Londoners and work to ensure all communities are united and safe”.