Police want pro-Palestine Action protests scrapped after synagogue attack

London and Manchester police have called for protests to be delayed or cancelled after the synagogue terror attack.

Metropolitan Police said it wanted to deploy every available officer to protect Jewish communities, but was instead having to prepare for a protest against the banning of Palestine Action. Politics latest: Mahmood says pro-Palestinian protests 'dishonourable' after Manchester attack The Met said it was "having to plan for a gathering of more than 1,000 people in Trafalgar Square on Saturday in support of a terrorist organisation".

It added: "By choosing to encourage mass law breaking on this scale, Defend Our Juries [the protest organisers] are drawing resources away from the communities of London at a time when they are needed most." Palestine Action was banned under anti-terrorism laws in July. Greater Manchester's police chief echoed the call, urging protest organisers in the city to ask "whether this is really the right time".

"You could do the responsible and sensitive thing and refrain, on this occasion, from protesting in a manner which is likely to add to the trauma currently being experienced by our Jewish community," said Chief Constable Sir Stephen Watson. He said peaceful gatherings would not be stopped but warned officers would "act immediately to curtail any acts of violence, intimidation or threat".

Defend Our Juries, which has led demonstrations against the Palestine Action ban, said it planned to go ahead with the march. "Today, the Metropolitan Police wrote to us to ask that we postpone Saturday's mass protest in Trafalgar Square, citing 'significant pressure on policing'," said a statement.

"Our response in short: Don't arrest us then." It comes after the home secretary criticised separate pro-Palestinian protests held last night as "fundamentally un-British" and "dishonourable". A demonstration - held to protest the Israeli navy halting a flotilla carrying aid to Gaza - was held in London's Whitehall on Thursday evening, hours after the attack in Crumpsall in which two men were killed.

The Metropolitan Police said 40 people had been arrested in the course of the protest, six of whom were arrested for assaults on police officers. Speaking to Anna Jones on Sky News Breakfast, Shabana Mahmood said she was "very disappointed" to see the protests go ahead, given the context.

"I think that behaviour is fundamentally un-British," she said. "I think it's dishonourable." She said the issues that had been driving the pro-Palestine protests have been "going on for some time" and "don't look like they're going to come to an end any day soon" - but that those behind the demonstrations could have taken a "step back".

"They could have stepped back and just given a community that has suffered deep loss just a day or two to process what has happened and to carry on with the grieving process," she said. "I think some humanity could have been shown." Any further protests must "comply with the law and, where someone steps outside of the law of our land, they will be arrested.