A pro-Palestine march in London on Armistice Day would be “provocative”, health secretary Steve Barclay has claimed.
His comments came as pressure mounts on the Metropolitan Police to ban Saturday’s demo.
The force has called on organisers to scrap the planned protest, but they have refused.
On Sky News this morning, Barclay made clear his opposition to the march, but stopped short of calling for it to be banned.
He said: “I think it’s provocative to have a protest like this on that day.
“There’s lots of other days in the year when protests can happen, and indeed the sacrifices that people made through our armed forces was in order that people had the right to protest.
″It’s important that we have the right to protest. I just think on Armistice Day, when the country comes together to think about those who gave their lives, it’s provocative to have a protest like this on Remembrance Day.”
However, Barclay refused to endorse home secretary Suella Braverman’s claim that the protest was a “hate march”.
Asked on Radio 4′s Today programme whether he agreed with his cabinet colleague, the health secretary said: “No, there are some people expressing some hateful views ... but that’s not the behaviour of everyone on the march.”