Whatever one’s view of the rights and wrongs of banning demonstrations, the decision by the Metropolitan Police to move Saturday’s planned neo-Nazi rally from Golders Green to central London is a vindication for the communal bodies which have spent the past few weeks liaising with the authorities to achieve just this end. Above all, it makes a striking contrast with the lethargy and inaction displayed last summer during the Gaza war. Lessons have clearly been learned and, this time round, there has been co-operation, action and communication — all of which were in short supply last summer. Not to mention a welcome lack of the ego and empire-building all-too-often displayed at such times. It is, however, unfortunate, that one new group, the Campaign Against Antisemitism, has tried to use this communal success as an opportunity both to discredit those efforts by the existing communal bodies and to give itself entirely false credit for the ban. A little bit of humility would not go amiss.
