The Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, has defied calls for a ban on a pro-Palestinian march through London on Armistice Day as he insisted on the independence of his force amid intense government pressure to act.

In a statement in which he acknowledged the demands for him to stop Saturday’s procession, Rowley insisted there was currently insufficient intelligence that there would be a risk of serious public disorder.

He stressed the importance of an “independent police service … focused simply on the law and the facts in front of us”, despite a chorus of cabinet ministers – including the home secretary and the justice secretary – insisting that the march should not go ahead.