What a religious divorce council can decide

The Charity Commission lists an Islamic Sharia Council. A Home Office review found that such councils have no binding authority under civil law in England and Wales.

Timeline

January 2025: Organisers hold a demonstration subject to public order conditions.
April 2026: The CPS reports two convictions for breaching and inciting breaches of the conditions.
October 2026: The Met releases cumulative policing costs and publishes conditions for a further march.

What the records show

The review described voluntary bodies offering guidance, principally on religious marriage and divorce. It heard evidence that some women faced discriminatory treatment in seeking a religious divorce. A religious decision can matter to a participant and her community while civil marital status remains governed by domestic law.

How to read the evidence

A claim that London imposed sharia as municipal law would require a specific enactment or enforcement record. The Charity Commission entry establishes the existence of an organisation. The review addresses its institutional category and the governing legal framework across England and Wales.

Official sources

London protest policing from October 2023 to October 2026

On 2 October 2026 the Metropolitan Police reported £26.6 million in extra expenditure for protests connected to the conflict since October 2023. The figure covers 35 large protests organised by groups in the Palestine Coalition and other related protests. The Met put the total at £90 million after including the value of on-duty resources diverted to the events. Those figures share a period and differ in what they count. Met briefing

Met policing costs since October 2023, as reported in October 2026

Extra expenditure£26.6m

Total including diverted resources£90m

The total includes the extra expenditure. These are cumulative figures. The Met links earlier operation accounts and discloses selected event costs separately. Freedom of information disclosure

October 2026 march conditions

For the 10 October Palestine Coalition march, police published a route across Westminster and Waterloo bridges and required the Whitehall rally to finish by 6:30 p.m. They forecast 7,000 to 10,000 participants. The notice was issued the previous day and records the plan and forecast. It gives no final turnout, duration of traffic disruption or arrest outcome. Met conditions notice

Face coverings at the October march

Before the 10 October 2026 march, Metropolitan Police announced that officers could require people in the protest area to remove a covering worn to conceal their identity. Officers were to assess why an individual was wearing a covering. The notice gives no count or proportion of attendees who covered their faces. Metropolitan Police notice

Why cases end without a charge or prosecution

Arrest totals measure an early stage of enforcement. In England and Wales, the Crown Prosecution Service generally requires both sufficient evidence and a public interest in prosecution. A case can also end at the police stage. To establish whether fear of public unrest influenced specific outcomes, the relevant evidence would be a recorded decision, case review or correspondence identifying that reason. The Met sources cited here provide no such finding or count. Code for Crown Prosecutors

Two organisers convicted in April 2026

The Crown Prosecution Service reported that Benjamin Jamal and Christopher Nineham were found guilty of breaching conditions on a January 2025 demonstration and inciting others to breach them. The restrictions followed concerns about disruption near a synagogue on Shabbat and to central London businesses. These were public order convictions concerning the conditions imposed on that event. Crown Prosecution Service