Police have placed a designated restriction on protests in the vicinity of the JW3 Jewish community centre on Finchley Road in Hampstead for today, Sunday 25 October.
The Metropolitan Police put the restriction in place in the area around the centre, which stands on Finchley Road in north London. The decision, police said, was taken as part of the “policing operation to prevent intimidation and disruption to the local community”.
Alongside the protest restriction, police have authorised powers under Section 158 of the Crime and Policing Act 2026 for today’s events in the area. Under that authorisation, officers can require a person to remove a face covering if they reasonably believe it is being worn wholly or mainly for the purpose of concealing identity. A face covering can also be seized.
The face-covering provisions in sections 157 to 159 of the Crime and Policing Act 2026 came into force on 29 July 2026. They allow police to designate an area for a limited period, of up to 24 to 48 hours, within which wearing or otherwise using an item that conceals identity becomes an offence. The new provisions sit alongside the longer-standing Section 60AA powers, under which an officer must first ask a person to remove a covering before moving to arrest for a refusal.
JW3 describes itself as an arts, culture and entertainment venue, an educational facility and a social and community hub. It stands at 341-351 Finchley Road, London NW3, and opened on 29 September 2013. The building, designed by Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands, includes a 270-seat auditorium, a 60-seat cinema, a restaurant and bar, dance studios and classrooms, along with an outdoor piazza. It merged with the London Jewish Cultural Centre in 2015, and the combined organisation is based at the Finchley Road site.
When it opened, the centre was presented as a place open to all who have an interest in Jewish life, running a programme aimed at members of the community irrespective of affiliation or level of observance. Its stated aim was to use arts, culture and learning as a gateway into Jewish life and to foster a cohesive community, rather than to serve any single strand of it.
The centre is on Finchley Road in Hampstead, in the London Borough of Camden, on one of the main routes running north out of central London towards Golders Green and Hendon. The road carries heavy traffic through the day, and the centre’s entrance opens directly on to it, which is why any gathering outside it is felt quickly by people passing through the area.
Today’s restriction follows an earlier flashpoint at the same address. In October 2024, pro-Palestine demonstrators gathered outside the centre during an event on Israel and the Middle East. Complaints were made afterwards that Jewish attendees, including elderly visitors, were being harassed and intimidated as they entered the building. Police made at least one arrest during that protest.
That history is part of the backdrop to the policing operation now in place, though police have not linked today’s restriction to any single planned gathering in the material published so far. Beyond the vicinity of JW3 and today’s date, no street-by-street boundary for the designated area has been set out in the published detail, and no information about arrests today has been given.
What is clear from the police position is the shape of the operation: a designated restriction on protests around the centre, a stated aim of preventing intimidation and disruption to the local community, and a face-covering authorisation running alongside it for today’s events. Anyone in the area today will be subject to those conditions while they remain in force.
The restriction applies for today only, on the terms set out by police. Further detail, including whether the authorisation is extended or allowed to lapse, will depend on what police decide as the day’s events unfold.
