Policing Israel-Palestine protests stretching Met resources, commissioner says

Mark Rowley says Met may need support from other forces amid concerns about effect of policing protests on other duties

The Metropolitan police may have to seek support from other forces because of the pressure that managing protests over the Israel-Hamas conflict has had on the capital’s limited number of officers, the UK’s most senior officer said on Thursday.

Sir Mark Rowley told a meeting that, since Hamas’s attacks on Israel on 7 October, successive weekend protests in central London have been policed by 1,000 officers, then 1,500 and then by 2,000.