'Unprecedented' policing operation planned for the weekend

Thousands of officers will take to the streets of London this weekend along with armoured vehicles, police horses, dogs, drones and helicopters being deployed as the Met aims to avoid clashes between groups of protesters.

The force have described the policing operation as being on a scale 'unprecedented in recent years' with the FA Cup final also taking place on Saturday

Heavy restrictions have been put in place in a bid to keep the Unite the Kingdom and pro-Palestine Nakba Day rallies separate, with added concerns that some football fans will go straight from the FA Cup final to the Tommy Robinson event

Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner James Harman said the operation will cost the force £4.5 million, £1.7 million of which is to bring in officers from other forces to boost numbers.

Around 4,000 officers are expected to be on duty on Saturday, with 660 being drafted in from forces outside the Met.

Mr Harman said: “We are policing two significant and potentially challenging protests in the centre of London, as well as the FA Cup final, which is taking place in Wembley on the same day.

“We’re doing this at a time of continued global instability and tension, which we know has the potential to fuel tension and play out on the streets of London, the terrorism threat level has been raised to severe, and in recent weeks and months, we have seen a terrorist attack.

“We’ve seen a sustained campaign of arson targeting Jewish Londoners, against the backdrop of increasing hate crime, in particular antisemitism.

“So fears in Jewish communities are particularly heightened, but we’ve also seen increased concern more broadly, including in Muslim communities.

“Taken together, these factors give us significant cause for concern as we head into the weekend, and require a policing plan that provides us with the most assertive grip on the movement of large numbers of people, large groups, and the potential for serious disorder and other criminality that may arise as a result.”

For the first time under official protest restrictions, organisers of the rallies will face prosecution as well as any speakers who break the law by using the events as a platform for extremism or hate speech.

Live facial recognition will be used for the first time in a policing operation around a protest, with cameras set up in a location in Camden that is not on the route of the Unite the Kingdom march, but is expected to be used by a lot of people attending the event.

There remain more than 50 outstanding and unidentified suspects after violent clashes between police and protesters at the previous Unite the Kingdom event in September.

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