Ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn confirms he will attend controversial Armistice Day Gaza march in London despite fears of violence and damage to the Cenotaph – as successor Keir Starmer tries to calm backbench revolt with warning to Israel

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is planning to attend a controversial pro-Palestinian demonstration in London on Armistice Day despite police pleas for it to be cancelled.

The hard Left icon revealed today that he intends to join more than 70,000 people expected to flock to the capital on Saturday to protest against Israel’s bloody bombardment of Gaza.

But fears are growing that members of the far-Right will clash with protesters at the march, which comes a few hours after a two-minute silence will be held at the Cenotaph for fallen servicemen and women.

The attendance of Mr Corbyn, who now sits as an independent, will raise questions over whether Labour backbenchers allied to him will also attend.

Sir Keir Starmer has been trying to quench a burning row over the conflict. He has refused demands from backbenchers and some frontbenchers for a ceasefire, arguing it will help Hamas regroup.  Instead he has backed short ‘humanitarian pauses’ to allow aid into the besieged enclave. 

Today in the Commons he took a hard line with Israel over mounting civilian casualties in its reprisals for the Hamas terror attack a month ago that left 1,400 Israelis dead.

‘Israel has the right and duty to defend herself but it is not a blank cheque, it must comply with international law,’ he said.

The hard Left icon (pictured at a pritest last month) revealed today that he intends to join more than 70,000 people expected to flock to the capital on Saturday to protest against Israel’s bloody bombardment of Gaza.

But fears are growing that members of the far-Right will clash with protesters at the march, which comes a few hours after a two-minute silence will be held at the Cenotaph for fallen servicemen and women.

Sir Keir Starmer has been trying to quench a burning row over the conflict. He has refused demands from backbenchers and some frontbenchers for a ceasefire, arguing it will help Hamas regroup. Instead he has backed short ‘humanitarian pauses’ to allow aid into the besieged enclave.

‘Every new day in Gaza now brings with it more pain, more suffering, more agony. 

‘Hostages still held. Thousands of civilians dead, including so many innocent women and children, millions struggling for the basics of life – food, water, sanitation, medicines and fuel.

‘We cannot and we will not close our eyes to their suffering. We need a humanitarian pause now. The hostages to be released now.’

Metropolitan Police chief Sir Mark Rowley was last night facing growing pressure to call for a ban on the demonstration after Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden said he had ‘grave concerns’ about the event.

READ HERE: Poppy seller veteran, 78, tells how he was punched by pro-Palestine protesters as he fundraised at Scottish station that was besieged by demonstrators

Justice Secretary Alex Chalk urged pro-Palestinian groups to heed the call from the Met Police to postpone the march while Prime Minister Rishi Sunak referred to the plans as ‘provocative and disrespectful.’

Now there are fears that the march will be confronted by members of the far-Right – with English Defence League founder Tommy Robinson rallying his likeminded peers to join him on Saturday.

Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, wrote on X yesterday shortly after he was reinstated to the social media platform: ‘Saturday 11/11/11 London, your country needs you.’

In a ranting video, Robinson spoke of ‘a mass of men who are willing to stand for their country’. 

The tirade came after Jonathan Hall KC, the independent reviewer of terror legislation, warned that there were concerns of ‘an extreme Right-wing terrorist backlash’ if Saturday’s demonstration against the conflict in the Middle East goes ahead. 

Mr Hall warned that Islamists had used a previous Remembrance Day protest as a ‘recruitment method’.

He added that the demonstration had been used to ‘de-legitimise soldiers’, which was later seen when Fusilier Lee Rigby was murdered in 2013.  

It comes as the Prime Minister has warned that any desecration of monuments or incidents of racial hatred would be an ‘affront to the public’. 

This morning, former Met Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson slammed the protest as ‘tone deaf’ and ‘insensitive’.

He told LBC: ‘I do think it’s hugely regrettable that organisations think it’s appropriate to march on this particular date on this weekend… At the very least, it would seem to me to be tone deaf and somewhat insensitive.’

The former police boss added: ‘The decision of the Commissioner to apply to the Home Secretary for a ban, I think, is a delicate and tricky one.

‘These judgments may go to the wire, with responsible police leadership working hard to bring about an appeal for common sense resolution.’

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