Organizers spurn UK police’s plea to shelve anti-Israel rally after synagogue attack

Organizers of a protest against the UK’s ban on the Palestine Action group have rejected London police’s plea to shelve their rally in the wake of a deadly attack on a Manchester synagogue over Yom Kippur, The Guardian reports.

Postponing the planned Saturday rally would allow law enforcement to focus on protecting Jewish and Muslim communities in wake of the attack, police said in their letter to the organizers.

But organizers nevertheless reject the police’s request and say they will go ahead with the weekend demonstration, which is expected to draw a massive crowd.

In a letter to the Metropolitan police, the organizing group Defend Our Juries reportedly urges officers to “prioritize protecting the community rather than arresting those peacefully holding signs in opposition to the absurd and draconian ban of a domestic direct action group.”

While condemning the Manchester synagogue attack that left two dead and four seriously injured, the activist group insists that it is up to law enforcement whether it wants to dispatch police to secure the protest.

“It appears the political oversight in proscribing Palestine Action, which aimed to save lives in Palestine, is taking away from the police protecting the community from those who seek to take lives,” their letter continues, as quoted by UK outlets.