Police banned UKIP from marching through an area with a large Muslim population after its incumbent Mayor warned of ‘unavoidable clashes’ with local counter-protesters, the Mail can reveal.
The right-wing party had planned to stage a Christian-themed march, Walk With Jesus, in Whitechapel – where 55 per cent of the population is Muslim.
However, the protest was banned from the area and the entire east London borough of Tower Hamlets by the Metropolitan Police nine days before it was due to begin.
Anyone who had defied the order would have risked arrest.
The Daily Mail can now reveal that Lutfur Rahman, the controversy-dogged mayor of Tower Hamlets who was re-elected two weeks ago, had written to the Met a week earlier calling for the party to be kept out of his territory.
Mr Rahman, who was previously banned from running for election after he was found to have committed electoral fraud, used the letter to brand UKIP a source of ‘violent and racist anti-immigrant rhetoric’.
But while he called for the right-wing party to be banned from Whitechapel, he did not also ask for a similar ban on counter-protesters turning out against the march.
Months before, a large group of youths had turned out in hoodies and masks to ‘defend their community’ ahead of another planned UKIP march that was also banned from entering Tower Hamlets.
Nigel Farage, the former leader of UKIP, likened the counter-gathering to a ‘foreign invading army’, branding the scenes of masked youths ‘one of the most terrifying things I’ve ever seen in my life’.
But while he wanted the Met to ban UKIP from his borough, Mr Rahman said that stopping a similar counter-gathering from happening again was ‘outside the power of my administration’.
Mr Rahman openly supported the counter-protesters, and later signed an open letter against the UKIP march that described its supporters as ‘racist outsiders’.
Tower Hamlets Mayor Lutfur Rahman wrote to the Metropolitan Police urging it to ban UKIP from his borough ahead of a Christian protest
A large counter-demo of masked youths had turned out in October (pictured) to see off another UKIP march – but Mr Rahman did not call for counter-demos to be banned in his letter to police
UKIP leader Nick Tenconi pictured during the earlier October march.
He wrote: ‘If UKIP is allowed to march through Whitechapel on 31st January, it seems unavoidable that there will be clashes with counter protesters that will compromise the safety of our residents and the community cohesion that we hold so dear.’
Mr Rahman went on to ‘implore’ the Met Police to use powers under the Public Order Act to keep UKIP and its supporters out.
‘I sincerely hope that the Met will work with the council to defuse this threat to peace and unity in the Whitechapel community,’ he concluded.
Ten days later, the Met banned UKIP from entering the borough of Tower Hamlets using powers under the Public Order Act.
Warning that UKIP’s presence could be seen as ‘provocative’, Deputy Assistant Commissioner James Harman said the risk of ‘violence and serious disorder’ was high and that officers and the public would be put at risk.
DAC Harman banned the right-wing party from Tower Hamlets – but did not prevent a counter-protest from assembling on the high street in Whitechapel.
This was done, he said, based on the information available and on previous similar incidents. He did not indicate exactly what intelligence the decision was based on.
UKIP was banned from entering any part of Tower Hamlets (above), including the area of Whitechapel it had hoped to march through
In the end UKIP, led by the party’s Nick Tenconi, relocated the march to the West End of London, marching from Marble Arch to Trafalgar Square.
It has previously accused police of ‘caving in to Islamists’ and ‘violating their democratic right to assembly’ over the October protests. The Met Police made no arrests in connection with the rally.
Mr Rahman was most recently elected as Mayor of Tower Hamlets in 2022, when his Aspire party took 22 of the borough’s 45 seats.
Prior to this, he had been banned from standing for election for five years after he was found guilty of electoral fraud by the Electoral Court after four voters alleged he used ‘corrupt and illegal practices’ to win the position in 2014.
Election Commissioner Richard Mawrey said that Rahman’s campaign had dishonestly sought to characterise his Labour rival John Biggs as a ‘racist’, and had been driven by his ‘ruthless ambition’ for power.
His 2022 victory prompted accusations of family voting – when relatives influence their family members, even in polling booths – from pro-democracy observers.
Whitechapel’s majority Muslim population is among the highest per head in the UK. Overall, Tower Hamlets has a 39.9 per cent Muslim population, according to the most recent census – the greatest of any council in England and Wales.
A spokesperson for Lutfur Rahman said: ‘Mayor Lutfur Rahman has spoken publicly about the fears expressed by many residents about the far right targeting Tower Hamlets – the borough with the largest Muslim population in the country – and about raising these concerns with the Met Police to protect the safety of residents.
‘This followed the violent scenes at the far right’s march in central London last September, resulting in 22 arrests and the Police said their decision was based on their own assessment about the ‘risk of serious violence to members of the community.
‘This year we will mark the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street, when the Blackshirts tried to march through East London in 1936 in an attack on the Jewish community. The far right are still seeking to spread fear and prejudice today but they have never succeeded in dividing our community in the East End and they never will.’
A Met spokesperson said: ‘We routinely receive representations from individuals and organisations ahead of planned protests.
‘It is not unusual that these will include representations from the local authority in whose area a protest is due to take place.
‘We are entirely operationally independent and our decisions are taken after reflecting on the full range of information and intelligence available, not on any one single contribution.’
A UKIP spokesperson said: ‘It is not surprising that the scandal-clad Tower Hamlets Mayor Lutfur Rahman actively tried to ban a march that simply aimed to promote Christianity in London.
‘Britain is a Christian country and it is outrageous that a mayor can essentially ban Christians from worshipping publicly.
‘Freedom of speech and freedom to worship clearly no longer exist in parts of Britain. Urgent change is needed.’
