From GB News, Friday 9 November:
The annual Remembrance Day parade will implement their biggest security operation ever to protect veterans amid concerns of terror attacks tied to Middle Eastern tensions and warnings that pro-Palestinian demonstrators may target the event.
…Pro-Palestinian groups have suggested that they intend to join the crowds attending the parade at the Cenotaph.
Similar groups are set to target the Day of Remembrance across the country, as the Student Federation for a Liberated Palestine has called for a “student day of action”, co-ordinating a network of 15 pro-Palestinian student groups.
As a result, Caerdydd Students for Palestine – made up of students at Cardiff University – have planned a protest to take place this Monday.
We’re not told which “pro-Palestinian groups” supposedly intended to “join the crowds attending the parade”, and none actually did either yesterday on Remembrance Sunday or today. Further, an online flyer for the Caerdydd Students for Palestine protest “rally” for Monday 11 November states that it will begin at 5 pm – long after any Remembrance events, which focus on 11 am. As such, the supposed connection between pro-Palestinian “actions” and Armistice events appears to be contrived.
However, GB News are not alone in this: on 8 November the Express ran an article headlined “Pro-Palestine mob plot to ‘swarm’ five UK cities in ‘coordinated’ Armistice Day protests”:
Five UK cities are being targeted by Youth Demand, an undercover investigation by Express.co.uk can reveal. [1]
In a secret meeting on Saturday, November 2, the activist group joined Just Stop Oil at a members-only central London bar for an exclusive event.
The event in West Dock, called the ‘Politics is Broken: People’s Assembly & After Party’, saw upwards of 50 activists gather to listen to speeches and discuss policy while vegan food and alcohol were served.
Youth Demand activist Arthur Clifton told the crowd how the group was planning to wreak havoc on Monday, November 11 – a time when thousands across Britain will honour those who gave their lives for our country.
…A call to action on Youth Demand’s Telegram channel posted on November 5 told activists that “in just over a week, our nationally coordinated actions will be popping off all over the country”.
And in an apparent threat to Remembrance ceremonies in the five cities being targeted, the rallying cry finishes: “We know we have to shut it down for Palestine.”
It is difficult not to notice that the article fails to include any quote from Clifton that references Remembrance Day events, and that the “apparent threat” mentioned in the last paragraph is inferred. I took a look at the Telegram post; it refers to a “national week of action” commencing 11 November – as such, “shut it down” appears to have a general sense. The Express author might say that “apparent threat” merely means possible knock-on effects from transport disruption caused by protests, but that does not seem be the most obvious interpretation.
The supposed link between “pro-Palestinian groups” and Armistice appears in all instances above to have been constucted by cherrypicking details. The framing also builds on what happened last year, when 11 November fell on a Saturday and as such happened to coincide with a pro-Palestinian march in central London. Although the march took place some distance from the Cenotaph, the populist then Home Secretary Suella Braverman suggested that it was under threat, prompting an aggressive crowd to show up to “defend” the memorial. Andrew Bridgen, who at that time was a Reclaim MP, went further, issuing a statement that made wild claims about “protestors against the Remembrance service” who were supposedly “seeking to occupy Whitehall overnight”.
UPDATE: Youth Demand have posted a video of activitsts sitting in the road in Parliament Square on the Monday morning, with the caption “Supporters of Youth Demand silently shut the road into Parliament Square at exactly 11am this morning, during the Armistice service at the Cenotaph”. Given that vehicles in the area would have stopped anyway for the two minutes’ silence it’s not clear to what extent they can really take credit for “shutting” the road. In any case, the action can hardly be called “wrecking havoc” or a “threat” to a ceremony going on up the road.
Note
1. Youth Demand responded by scoffing at the “undercover” claims:
A news outlet has supposedly exposed our publicly announced plan to take action next week by coming to a public event (ticketed btw, so thanks for the donation😉), and done some deep undercover work by joining a telegram chat link (which you can find in our bio btw if you want to keep up to date💋).
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