Many of the 4,000 officers called in to police both events are being diverted from normal crime-fighting duties and 660 are arriving from other forces outside of London.
Harman said that the Nakba Day and Unite the Kingdom events were occurring amid heightened fears among both Jewish and Muslim communities but also in the wake of the national terrorism threat level being raised to its second highest rating.
“These factors give us significant cause for concern as we head into the weekend and require a policing plan that provides us with the most assertive grip on the movement of large numbers of people, large groups, and the potential for serious disorder and other criminality that may arise as a result,” he said.
The first Unite the Kingdom event staged by Yaxley-Lennon last September drew at least 100,000 to London. While many of those attending saw it as an opportunity to peacefully express their interpretation of British identity, there were a series of clashes with the police and anti-Muslim hate speech incidents.
The Home Office has banned at least seven people from coming to the UK to take part in Saturday’s event.
Specialist officers, working with prosecutors, will be on standby to take swift decisions to arrest and charge hate speech crimes. That may include arrests for chants referring to “intifada” at the pro-Palestine march.
“If something is hateful and intimidating we will take action whatever the academic or historical interpretation of those words,” said Harman.
“We have been clear since the outset, we would not accept routes or rally locations that would increase the risk of intimidation to any particular community, or that would risk the two protests coming together.”
Harman said the force would “deploy very significant resources” to keep the opposing groups apart “to keep everybody safe”.
He added the armoured vehicles were “very much a contingency” that had not been used in London for a “significant period of time”.
“We will not be using it unless we absolutely have to but it’s there to support officers in the face of extreme violence,” the senior officer added.
