When more than 100,000 Palestinian supporters are expected to march through London on Saturday, around 2,000 police officers will be on duty, with additional authority to guard sites honouring Britain's war dead, according to AFP.
The British city has seen pro-Palestinian marches in recent weekends, during which police have made over 100 arrests for offences ranging from serious hate crimes to supporting outlawed organisations.
However, because Saturday is Armistice Day, a commemoration of those who have lost their lives in wars since World War I, the parade is expected to be more intense.
Late on, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called for nonviolent protests.
"For the sake of those who have fought for this country and for the freedoms we cherish, those who wish to protest may do so, but they must do so respectfully and peacefully," Sunak stated in a statement.
The deputy assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Lawrence Taylor, who is in charge of Saturday's operation, told a media briefing that it will be a "particularly challenging and tense weekend".
He projects that the march will draw well over 100,000 participants, and organisers have altered the itinerary to avoid passing by well-known memorials.
Police, however, said that "small groups" had previously split off and that "their behaviour escalated and became increasingly violent" in those instances.
Because of this, the area containing the most important monuments will be surrounded by metal barricades, and anyone trying to join the parade there will be subject to arrest by the police.
According to Scotland Yard, there will be a continuous police presence at the Cenotaph, which serves as the main focus of the commemorations, until Sunday.
There will also be more right-wing counter-protesters arriving in London over the weekend, which Taylor claimed would probably include groups of football hooligans, raising the possibility of confrontations.
According to Taylor, "there will be times when there will be a confrontation," and it was "likely" that police would have to use force eventually.
"This weekend is going to be difficult," he said.
Earlier, police stated that the operation during the Remembrance weekend was "much larger and more sophisticated than those we have carried out so far".
"The scale of the ongoing police operation amounts to a doubling of the number of officers on duty for the weekend's events," they stated.
There will be about 1,850 workers on duty on Saturday and 1,375 workers on Sunday.
The government and police fell out over the march because ministers' proposals to outlaw the gathering raised questions about political meddling in day-to-day operations.
The controversy intensified when Home Secretary Suella Braverman, the person in charge of policing, said that the Met was being lenient towards demonstrators supporting left-wing causes. This led to calls for her dismissal.
Meanwhile, Sunak declared that he would make Mark Rowley, the commander of the Metropolitan Police, "accountable" for approving the march against the Israeli-Hamas war.
The Conservative Party leader referred to the march as "provocative and disrespectful," but the organisers rejected his requests to reschedule it.
According to Rowley, the Stop the War coalition's march did not meet the requirements for a request for a court order to prevent it from happening.
According to Rowley, such a prohibition is a "last resort" in cases where there is a grave risk of disturbance, and it is "extremely rare."
"The events taking place this weekend are of great significance and importance to our nation," he said in a press release.
"We will do everything in our power to ensure that they go smoothly."
November 11 commemorates the end of World War I hostilities and the military's wartime sacrifices since 1914. /BGNES
