Intelligence agents monitoring Armistice Day protest risks but ‘won’t be swayed’ by Braverman’s calls for ban

UK intelligence agencies assisting police in monitoring the risks of the pro-Palestinian protest planned for Armistice Day “won’t be swayed” by pressure from politicians, i has been told.

A senior intelligence official currently assessing the threat posed by the event said any decision would be intelligence led, and not influenced by the row between Government and police over the march.

“The overriding thing is there is a right for peaceful protest, and a strategic objective is to enable a peaceful protest,” the official told i.

They confirmed the threshold required to ban the demonstration has not yet been reached and there was “no significant risk” associated with the event yet.

“Essentially the individuals the risk is coming from don’t currently hold the capability to cause significant harm, or rather enough [harm] to step in the way of people’s right to protest,” they said.

Suella Braverman has repeatedly called for the protest to be banned, clashing with Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley who has insisted he can only do this when there is intelligence to suggest it could cause significant public disorder. Rishi Sunak backed down from an attempt to stop the march from going ahead, but warned the Met that the force would be held accountable.

The Home Secretary used an opinion piece in The Times to double down on her position, criticising the force’s approach to policing protests and labelling the pro-Palestinian demonstrators as “hate marchers”.

On Tuesday, ministers held an emergency Cobra meeting to discuss the impact of the Israel-Hamas conflict on Britain, amid fears of clashes between pro-Palestinian protesters and far-right groups heading to London over the weekend.

“The Cobra meeting this week signifies that this will continue to be an intelligence led decision, whatever goes on between Sunak, Braverman and the police,” the intelligence official added.

“I think what this does show is a degree of independence within the security and intelligence world, so at the moment they’re not being swayed by politicians.”

“Mark [Rowley] is a seasoned cop that faced politicians during some of our darkest days so this is a comfortable environment where he’s dealing with with the politicians,” they said. “He’s not been a pushover.”

The official, and two other intelligence sources, confirmed that UK intelligence agencies were constantly supporting the police in their assessment of the threat ahead of the weekend.

One of the other sources, a former intelligence officer who now works in Government, said the Met will lead decision-making, adding that the force will be “drawing on information provided by MI5 supported by GCHQ”.

The other source who works at GCHQ confirmed the agency is working closely with the Metropolitan Police.

Earlier this week, police identified far-right groups and football hooligans organising counter-protests to pro-Palestinian demonstrations in London as the main risk of public disorder ahead of Remembrance Weekend.

i revealed the groups had called on members to descend on London on Armistice Day and “fight back” against pro-Palestinian protesters. Messages shared in a Whatsapp group, which has 1,000 members, compared Muslim women in religious dress to postboxes and referred to Celtic fans holding a “free Palestine” banner as “Islamist loving scumbags”.

In her opinion piece, Ms Braverman supported “football fans” who felt they had been treated unfairly by police “compared to politically-connected minority groups who are favoured by the left”.

Yvette Cooper, the Shadow Home Secretary, accused Ms Braverman of “deliberately inflaming community tensions” and “encouraging extremism on all sides”.

She added: “No other Home Secretary would have done this.”