The Metropolitan Police has imposed conditions on a student march planned for central London on Wednesday 7 October, prescribing where participants must assemble, the route they must follow and when they must disperse. The restrictions also prohibit face coverings that conceal a participant’s identity.
The University of London Coalition demonstration is expected to travel from King’s College London in the Strand to University College London in Russell Square. Under the conditions, participants must form up in a specified area of Lincoln’s Inn Fields by 12.30pm before setting off on the prescribed route. The post-march assembly in Russell Square must conclude by 2pm, and participants must then disperse.
The restrictions were imposed under the Public Order Act. Police say anyone who breaches them can be arrested. The conditions apply to the form-up assembly, procession and rally, including the identity-concealment restriction.
Why the event has drawn scrutiny
The march is planned for the third anniversary of the 7 October 2023 attacks in Israel and the beginning of the ensuing conflict in Gaza. The police have said the date is one of mourning and reflection for many Londoners and that the planned demonstration has caused particular concern among Jewish communities.
Before announcing the conditions, the force urged those planning to attend to consider moving the protest to another date. It said it had not identified a specific individual willing to accept responsibility as organiser, despite identifying groups involved through social media. The police said the legal requirement for organisers to provide their details under section 11 of the Act could be considered once organisers were identified. The failure to identify an organiser, the force said, did not by itself satisfy the legal test for seeking a ban.
Police have not banned the march. The force says it could ask the Home Secretary to prohibit a procession only if the risk of serious disorder were so high that it could not be managed through conditions. It has said that threshold has not been met in this case. The restrictions announced instead set limits on the form-up, route, end time and face coverings.
A separate planned gathering
The force has also identified a separate student protest planned near Marble Arch on 7 October, between 1pm and 4pm. It says it will require that gathering to take place away from Marble Arch because of the expected impact on people attending synagogues nearby. Details of those separate conditions were not included in the march notice at the time it was issued.
The two planned events should not be confused: the route and dispersal conditions announced for the inter-university march concern the procession between Lincoln’s Inn Fields and Russell Square, while the Marble Arch gathering is subject to a separate direction.
The march conditions do not determine what will happen at the demonstration or establish that any participant has committed an offence. They set the limits police say must be followed. Any arrest would relate to an alleged breach or another suspected offence, rather than to participation in the march itself.
The plan follows earlier calls by police for the demonstration to be moved, alongside efforts to contact organisers and London universities. The force has said officers will act against hate crime and unlawful conduct. Its announcement also says chants or placards calling for “intifada”, or encouraging unlawful extremism, could lead to arrests; any enforcement would depend on the circumstances and the law.
For people travelling through the Strand, Holborn and Russell Square around lunchtime, the most concrete change is the defined route and time window. Participants are expected to gather at Lincoln’s Inn Fields before 12.30pm, proceed to Russell Square and disperse by 2pm. The police have not described those timings as a ban: they are conditions governing how the procession and assembly may take place.
