Police have issued a warning ahead of a Kurdish protest planned for today in central London following the arrest of seven terror suspects.
Marchers are set to assemble at Trafalgar Square on one of the busiest shopping weekends ahead of Christmas in a display of defiance against the UK government.
The protest follows one that took place last Tuesday on November 26 in Haringey, north London where people shouted ‘Free Kurdistan’ and ‘shame on you’ in a direct response to the arrests that had taken place that day.
These arrests had been made of men and women suspected to be members of the PKK – the Kurdistan Workers’ Party – which is proscribed as a terrorist organisation in the UK, amid a slew of early morning raids of eight addresses, including the community centre.
Six people, including a 59-year-old woman, a 27-year-old man, a 31-year-old woman, a 62-year-old man, a 56-year-old man and a 23-year-old man were arrested at separate addresses across London.
The Met announced on Tuesday night a 31-year-old man had become the seventh person to be granted this fate.
A further four protesters were then arrested on suspicion of support for the organisation in the chaos that ensued.
Now a police operation is taking place in response to a new protest as the force hope to ‘minimise disruption’ and ‘remind anyone taking part that the PKK is proscribed by the UK Government and expressing support for them is a criminal offence’.
Chief Superintendent Joe McDonald said the Met ‘understand the strength of feeling from the Kurdish community’.
He added: ‘Officers will be highly visible along the protest route and wider area to ensure the events take place safely and will deal with any offences.’
Police say the Kurdish community ‘will assemble before the protest on the west side of Trafalgar Square at 13:00 hrs until 14:15 when the procession will start’.
They add: ‘The procession will move from Trafalgar Square, down Northumberland Avenue, along Victoria Embankment, turning into Parliament Square and onto Whitehall.
‘The protest will assemble on Whitehall in the designated area and speeches must finish at 16:30 hrs and the assembly must conclude by 17:00 hrs.’
A selection of maps have been provided by the force to indicate the designated areas where protesters are permitted to march.
Feminist group Sisters Uncut sent a callout on X for ‘numbers needed’ at the community centre following the initial arrests.
At Tuesday’s protest, a group could be seen playing music and performing a dance as they held hands in the middle of the road.
Others surrounded a lorry loaded with metal barriers in an attempt to stop them from being unloaded and used to block entry to the community centre.
One nearby resident, who wanted to remain anonymous, said he saw streams of armed officers detaining the individuals.
They told : ‘I got up in the morning at 3am to go downstairs and make a sandwich but when I went to look out of the kitchen window I could see movement outside looking onto Portland Gardens and I could see two streams of armed officers walking away from where the Kurdish centre was.
‘Roughly guessing, I could see at least 60 officers. It was insane. I could see armoured police trucks and police armed with weapons, the ones you would associate with anti-terrorism.
‘On the main street on Stanhope, there were probably five or six police vans and maybe six or seven police cars, plus two other blacked-out police vehicles.
‘It’s been like this for a while now. There are police there once a week at least.
‘But what was really suspicious was how quietly this was done. They used no flashing lights until about 5 or 6am.
‘It was like they didn’t want anyone to know they were doing this. But from what I could see it was like a full blown riot.’
The PKK has been banned in Britain, America, and Turkey. It was proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the UK government in 2001.
Labelling of the PKK as a terrorist group is controversial to some organisations and analysts who believe it no longer engages in organised terrorist activities or systemically targets civilians.
Police have reminded protesters that under the Terrorism Act 2000 (TACT), the Home Secretary may proscribe an organisation if they believe it is concerned in terrorism and it is proportionate to do so.
They add: ‘Proscription makes it a criminal offence to invite or express support for a proscribed organisation through chanting, wearing clothing or display articles such as flags, signs or logos.’