Pro Palestinian marches apparently costing police 20 million pounds.

I suspect the funding to Israel is costing more....

Yes of course they should be allowed to continue. People have the right to protest.

I’m guessing £20 million is
a) not as much at it sounds when talking about budgets for public services
b) less that has been spent on more frivolous things as a pp pointed out.

Rwanda
PPE
Misuse of resources during Covid
Baronesss Bra?

So so so much misuse of resources in billions.

America has food poverty, expensive healthcare, lack of funding in schools, a stretched economy, but they choose to spend billions killing children in other countries.

£20m on the right for citizens to protest is a very small sum

Wasn't there an option to vote for a ceasefire?

If you want to be pissed off about a waste of public money then start a thread about the millions spent on the Rwanda gimmick.

The government spent at least £9bn - that is nine thousand million - on a sports competition in 2012.

I think the right to protest is far more intrinsic to a democratic society than the Olympics, and thankfully it's far cheaper too.

I'd say the money is well spent considering the lives of millions of Palestinian people are at stake here. The marches send a clear message to our government that we aren't all onside with their supporting of this genocide.

Why do you say "supposedly". You realise all large protests require a police presence which costs money?

but why are these supposedly peaceful protests costing so much to police

The MET spent £16m policing extinction rebellion protests in April 2019, and another £21m policing a fortnight of their protests in October 2019, so £37m for a month and a half of protests (https://amp.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/oct/22/extinction-rebellion-protests-cost-met-police-37m-so-far).

They spent £8m on just stop oil protests over a couple of months earlier this year.

Obviously people can, and do, argue against extinction rebellion and just stop oil. But for large, very public, high profile protests over many weeks, it seems like they just cost a lot to police. Rather than it being the Palestine protests specifically causing an issue by costing a lot.

And I agree with the PP, rights, such as the right to protest, cost money. I personally think it's a price worth paying.

£20m is also a very very small % of the MET's annual budget.

The right to protest must be protected - and completely regardless of what the topic of the protests in question is!

I spent quite some time in Germany during COVID for work reasons (stuck there for a while, as a matter of fact), and the very conspiracy-heavy, at times really pushing the boundaries (there were a lot of "sovereign citizen" types involved, too), personally disgusted me!

I still did not think protests ought to be banned.

I am, equally, on the record - right here on MN - as supporting the right of BBC staff to attend any protest they please, including one I said I would not want to attend.

The right of the people to loudly and collectively voice dissent is sancrosact! Banning protests, in exceptional circumstances, temporarily and as light-handedly as possible, might be an ultima ratio if widespread, otherwise impossible to police violence happens. But, generally speaking, it is a sign of descent into autoritanianism, and in essence deeply illiberal and anti-democratic.

Today marks the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - in which the right to protest is supported in articles 19 ff.; it is further and more explicitly spelled out in article 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: “The right of peaceful assembly shall be recognized.”

And, yes, our rights cost money! That is perfectly alright! I, for one, would most certainly rather pay taxes to guarantee our rights than for myriad other things the government will otherwise spend them on!

Zero surprise that the DM disagrees, mind!