Demonstration planned by far-right groups draws objections from Tessa Jowell and inspires London Jewish Forum to launch solidarity campaign

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Anti-fascist activists will turn a north London high street green and gold with ribbons and banners in a display of solidarity to oppose a group of neo-Nazis who plan a protest against its Jewish population.

The New Dawn party is among a number of small groups promoting the protest in Golders Green on 4 July. It will take place on a Saturday – the Jewish sabbath – in an area where about 40% of the population are Jewish.

The Golders Green Together campaign, launched on Monday by the London Jewish Forum and the anti-fascist organisation Hope Not Hate, plans to spark feelings of solidarity in the area.

Tessa Jowell, one of the contenders to become Labour’s London mayoral candidate, has asked Theresa May to prevent the march from going ahead and 11,000 people have signed an online petition to that effect. But under the Public Order Act 1986 the home secretary has no power to ban static demonstrations.

Tessa Jowell (@TessaJowell) This vile anti-Semitic march must not go ahead. I've written to the police to demand it is stopped http://t.co/qZunhIvW3V

The policing minister, Mike Penning, plans to meet the MP for Finchley and Golders Green, Mike Freer, this week to discuss concern.

“The home secretary has written to the Metropolitan police commissioner to urge him to use these powers and ensure that anyone who commits a criminal offence or demonstrates antisemitic hostility faces the full force of the law,” a Home Office spokesperson said.

On Monday, Freer said that although he was worried about public safety, he also held concerns about generating publicity for New Dawn.

“We have to be careful we don’t feed the egos of a relatively small group of people,” he told the Jewish Chronicle. “We need to make sure we remain calm and don’t let this far-right group get under our skin.”

Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner, of the Movement for Reform Judaism was at Monday’s launch and said she also had concerns about “the oxygen of publicity”.



“However, if they do turn up and we do not show our solidarity, that’s worse, in my view,” she said. “We have to make this show of strength.”

The rabbi said she was disappointed the police had no powers to stop the march going ahead. “You are not allowed to march, but you are allowed to say these hateful things if you stand still, because of some loophole? That’s a farce.”

As part of the month-long Golders Green Together campaign, volunteers will decorate the area’s main streets with gold and green ribbons, in a nod to the area’s name, and produce an eight-page newspaper with “good news stories” about diversity.

Supporters are being encouraged to tweet messages and pictures under the hashtag #GoldersGreenTogether. The London Jewish Forum chair, Adrian Cohen, said the campaign “will aim to ensure the voice of Golders Green’s diverse community is heard”.

• This article was amended on Tuesday 9 June 2015. The New Dawn party is not the sole organiser of the protest in Golders Green on 4 July. This has been corrected.