We won't be silenced
Israel’s project to erase Palestinians along with their history, culture, and their liberation struggle, extends globally to using its allies to repress Palestinian voices and their allies around the world. Here in Britain, the government is escalating its attempts to erode our civil liberties in order to maintain its complicity in Israel’s ongoing genocide and apartheid. Despite this, together we have built one of the largest and most sustained protest movements in British political history as we continue to take to the streets in solidarity with the Palestinian people, and target the pillars of this complicity.
The latest attacks on our Nakba Day march
On Saturday 16 May we marched 250,000 people strong in London for the annual commemoration of the Nakba – the catastrophe inflicted on the Palestinians by Israel since 1948.
Every year we march to commemorate the Nakba and to reaffirm our commitment to building solidarity with the Palestinian people and their struggle for liberation and return. This year we also marched to show our opposition to a far right march happening on the same day.
This year we have faced some new challenges in organising the march, from the police, some politicians and certain segments of the media who have rushed to falsely characterise our marches for Palestine and to call for them to be suspended, all whilst allowing the far right march to happen in central London.
But we’ve had massive support from a wide cross-section of society, and our march went ahead peacefully and powerfully as always.
Eroding our civil liberties will make no one safer. Our right to protest – including in solidarity with the Palestinian people – is a precious democratic principle and it must be defended.
Resources
Letter of complaint to MOPAC
Read our legal complaint to MOPAC about Mark Rowley's defamatory claims.
Open letter
Read the letter from nearly 200 MPs Peers, civil society and cultural figures.
Statement: right to protest
Read our latest Palestine Coalition statements on: The right to protest is a fundamental freedom
Statement: Nakba 78 march
Read our Palestine Coalition statements on: Nakba 78 demonstration will unite for Palestine and against far right
Statement: Met's political policing must end
Read our latest Palestine Coalition statement on the political policing of the Nakba 78 march
Press Coverage
The Crime and Policing Bill
Disgracefully, the government recently passed an extreme measure to give police new powers to effectively ban repeat protests through the Crime and Policing Bill.
The police will be required to take into account any ‘cumulative disruption’ caused by past or future protests in the same ‘area’ when deciding whether to impose restrictions, notwithstanding if the protests are for the same cause.
However, despite the government’s best attempts to railroad this new piece of legislation through Parliament, we mounted significant opposition across civil society and amongst Parliamentarians, building a broad and united front against this escalating authoritarianism.
We know that the best way to resist attempts like this to silence us is to keep on campaigning. Part of that is building the broadest alliances possible, which we will continue to do as we continue to defy our critics. Read more about this campaign below.
Read more
Full breakdown
Read a full round up of the campaign and the Parliamentary interventions.
Civil society statement
Over 45 civil society organisations came together to oppose this measure.
PSC’s briefing on the measure
Read the briefing ahead of the Commons vote.
Lawyers’ letter to the Home Secretary
Over 100 lawyers and legal scholars have written to the Home Secretary condemning the cumulative disruption proposal.
Press Coverage
Tribune, April 2026 – Kim Johnson: Protest Is Not a Privilege
