Rishi Sunak today warned police he expects them to tackle extremism “head-on” amid a furious row with Metropolitan Police Chief Sir Mark Rowley over calls for “jihad” at a protest, which Rowley said had a “a number of meanings”. Not in this context, Mark! The Mail has more.
The Prime Minister warned that the chanting at events in London at the weekend was a “threat” to British Jews and the country’s “democratic values” as he addressed MPs this afternoon.
It came after Scotland Yard Commissioner Sir Mark hit back at criticism of his officers for failing to intervene to arrest extremists.
He blamed ministers for the soft policing of anti-Israel protests after a showdown meeting with Suella Braverman, insisting police were “ruthless” about tackling demonstrators who stepped over the legal line.
He argued that police could only “enforce the law” and it is “Parliament’s job” to write that – suggesting that extremists are get around the existing restrictions on hate speech.
But facing MPs this afternoon Mr Sunak said officers had the powers they needed to arrest people for inciting racial hatred.
“We have seen hate on our streets again this weekend. We all stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people. That is the message I brought to President Abbas. But we will never tolerate antisemitism in our country,” he said.
“Calls for jihad on our streets are not only a threat to the Jewish community but to our democratic values and we expect the police to take all necessary action to tackle extremism head on.”
Later, in reply to a question about the protest marches from Tory MP Andrew Percy, the PM added: “Of course the police are operationally independent but the Home Secretary has a role in holding police forces to account and as members will know she has raised this matter with the Met Police Commissioner at their meeting earlier today.
“Anyone who commits a crime, whether that be inciting racial hatred, glorifying terrorism or violating public order, should expect to face the full force of the law.”
Sir Mark said he believed Ms. Braverman was looking at whether legislation needed to be toughened up – something that has been backed by Keir Starmer. Some 34 arrests have been made and the force is trying to track another 22 suspects from images.
However, Downing Street insisted that officers already have enough powers to deal with such situations, suggesting they need to “deployed”.
Around 100,000 people attended a rally on Whitehall on Saturday, where protesters scaled buildings and shouted “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” – which Ms. Braverman has condemned as an “antisemitic staple” calling for the “destruction of Israel”.
In one demonstration outside the Egyptian embassy, police watched as members of the extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir – which has been banned in almost all Arab countries – were filmed shouting “jihad” and calling for “Muslim armies” to fight Israel.
However, the Met insisted the “word jihad has a number of meanings” and it did not believe any offences had been committed.
Worth reading in full.
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So, anti-Israeli protests allowed, pro-Israeli march this weekend banned. The message is clear.
It’s been clear since 1913 and the formation of the corrupt ADL.. Who lynched Leo Frank and never stood trial for his hanging?…. I wonder…
It’s all well and good spouting in the H of C but Fishy and his mob are offering platitudes to the voters and nothing more. One proper meeting between the Home Sec and the Met chief along the lines of ‘sort the jihadis out or you’re out’ and this can be resolved.
Jihad does not have ‘more than one meaning.’
We are being lied to by Fishy and Braverman and I see no prospect of change. The only changes we can expect are when the islamists kick off and blood is spilled. When this happens the government will implement further restrictions on our freedom and that is what they want.
We are being played.
I agree, huxley. This is an interesting account from somebody who went to check out the London demos at the weekend, he also took lots of photos. As he says, the non-Muslims amongst the protestors are like turkeys voting for Xmas, which pertains to my post below about the alphabet people. Crazy how ill-informed and naive people are;
”Yesterday was another day of hate on London’s streets. There had been calls for the demonstrations to be banned – but none of the authorities saw fit to do so. I have been doing this for many years and can see things have visibly become worse. Yet just as the streets in our cities deteriorate – there is a growing counter movement of delusional people refusing to see the truth.
While cowards in the west want to pretend that these demonstrations are peaceful affairs that are all about human rights, in reality they are a vital part of the Islamist brainwashing of western society. If you open your eyes you can see it everywhere. These are Islamist demonstrations – that try to capture as many ‘new believers’ as they can.
You cannot claim the march is about ‘human rights’ and wave the flags of despotic failed states like Pakistan. The truth is simple – this crowd is an Islamist force that (just like Pakistan), wants Israel wiped off the map. There were plenty of Pakistan flags being waved – but these were not the only ones visible. Here is an image of someone with the flag of Afghanistan – another Islamist hellhole (currently back in the hands of the Taliban)”.
https://david-collier.com/turkeys-voting-for-christmas/
Such a difference to the very moving vigil on Sunday afternoon with the principal theme of getting the hostages back home.The turnout, especially as a lot of us only knew it was taking place that morning, was amazing with Trafalgar Sq. completely packed. Been on a lot of the anti lockdown protests and could usually squeeze through to get near the front, not a chance this time. Unfortunately the reports do not do it justice, minimising the numbers etc. Although I am not a fan of his, I must say that Michael Gove gave an amazing moving speech.
Thanks Mogs
I really am trying my best to not conflate the people who want to free Palestine with the people who support terrorism but it’s hard. How to differentiate when you see just one huge body of people chanting at a protest? Then there’s the delusional ‘alphabet mafia’, who are next level idiotic. You’re seriously supporting people/an ideology that would wish you dead? Mental.
( 2mins )
https://twitter.com/JustLuai/status/1716382426476183581
“Queers for Palestine” being perhaps one of the stupidest things I have ever witnessed in all my 72 years. WTFF?
Yes and I’m not sure the rainbow-haired tribe of men wearing dresses screeching ”Trans rights are human rights!” would get them very far in any Islamic country in the Middle East. Not the sharpest tools in the box are they? Muppets.
It would get them from the top floor of a building to the bottom by the fastest, most direct route.
It is true but disingenuous to say that Jihad is a spiritual state and doesn’t necessarily refer to worldly war. It is an easy get out clause but it is very easily overturned because the true meaning is the overcoming of the self and sin and the wickedness of the world and that would hardly be a chant to be uttered at rallies. And if people are going to follow that path then they will do so in whatever way they feel is appropriate. You don’t call for the awakening of the soul and you shouldn’t feel that you need to. If you do then you are engaging in black magic. You should never incite anyone to do anything regardless of legal prohibition.
a) It’s not the job of the police to interpret law
b) Anyone who thinks that calls for Jihad are anything other than a call to kill Jews is an idiot. That includes, it seems, the Metropolitan Police, which needs disbanding and reconstituting with those who recall that the police serve US.
Political theatre.
Over the next few months I guarantee that you will see an expansion of state power because of what they might call ‘increased risk of extremism’. Maybe there will be more extremism but the quality of your life, eroded as it has been over the last few years, will be eroded much further. The bankers say, inflate or die. This is the only area left to exert immense inflationary pressure in terms of restriction of oil supply from the Middle East.
No hate crimes have been committed at the organised demos.
Maybe the police are aware that the anger of the Palestinians is justified.
The death toll from the ongoing Israeli entity aggression in Gaza has risen to 5,087 martyrs, including 2,055 children and 1,119 women.
The Daily Sceptic is becoming more and more like Spiked.
Press brief from Hamas, no doubt.
Be honest with yourself. Would you turn up for battle tomorrow be you Christian, Muslim, Jew. You probably haven’t got the balls or the gumption to leave your own house. So I wouldn’t bother opening your mouth about the activities of other people. It is this spectatorism that is a far bigger enemy than Israel or Palestine. If you were there I would imagine that you would rush to the nearest public toilet as soon as possible.
I would. You can take that as you will, but you will find that there are many who go on, not because there is any reason to go on, but because there is shame in taking the easy way out. I know many, mostly ex forces.
It is a bizarre situation. The people on this page seem capable of a higher level of critical thinking than average and yet they espouse a view without even the excuse of a foundation. You can understand the position of Christian evangelisn in America given the antecdents. Ths dislike of Islam in this country is perhaps understandable but this proclivity to side with its enemies is not. But of course there was a sublte propaganda campaign that started in France in the late 1990s and I think the British proles didn’t really see it or acknowledge This is a big mstake. There is no way to overturn it execpt grim acceptance of the coming reality.
More Free speech finger pointing. Calling for Jihad or attacks on a foreign country still does not constitute illegal speech. Israelis demanding the flattening of Gaza on television is still free speech in This country.
Both are lamentable but both should be protected.
Calling for attacks in this country should be prosecuted, but is that really happening?
This is really weak from the site that professes to be associated with free speech.
Shocking lack of perspective.
We have to acknowledge that we are very weakened to our core and our value system. There is a point where you can’t pretend anymore. We can’t even shelter our own people. I know individuals whose mortgage has increased fivefold. We are talking about a difficult situation. I have been reading memoirs of the great depression and there was a huge difference between how they reacted and how people reacted in 2008. It would be nice to think that if we had a nuclear war then it would pull us all together and we would rediscover a sense of ‘we’. I would say that even in the event of a nuclear war most people these days would pursure their selfish desires.
If the Met’s inaction were a sign that they were truly in favour of robust free speech, it would be a good thing. Unfortunately I’m afraid this isn’t the case at all, it’s just one more example of ‘one rule for these people, and another for those people’. I would imagine calling for the destruction of Israel might be a ‘non-crime hate incident’ at least, or can those only happen on Twitter?
Just have a sense of perspective as to where we are now.We are in no position to sound off about anything. Most people seem to be happy to ignore the preciptous decline. It is no joke when we do have to face something serious and nobody really wants to know. Because it is too difficult. I don’t care how many times you went camping in Wales this situaton needs the consideration of the warrior spirit and you aren’t offering that at all. Just let our country be sold down the river because you haven’t got the balls to stand up for it.
It is always the same though. The better off people in that part of the world will retreat to the countryside and the poorest will have nowhere to go. We are judged on how we treat the worst off in society.
The police seem to have no issue with cautioning/intimidating middle-aged women, obnoxious football supporters and autistic teenagers for non-crimes. I guess some ‘incidents’ are easier and less risky to police than others but it certainly shines an unflattering light on their hypocrisy, lack of consistency/even-handednedd and poor application of the law.
Met Chief says it’s not their job to enforce taste or decency but isn’t that exactly what a non-crime hate incident seeks to do? https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/10/23/mark-rowley-shrugs-off-braverman-criticism-of-jihad-protest/
London Plod are absolute filth.
I remember walking through central as a Lockdown protest was starting watching battalions of armed riot police and mounted cavalry unloading from trucks.
They arrest a single white man for thought crime if standing silently near an abortion clinic.
But fifth columnists calling for the eradication of Israel in central. Suddenly “they” have freedom of speech and action. And the plod are all unarmed?!?
Exactly. A point I made last night at a small political meeting.
There’s nothing wrong with hate.
It’s what you hate that’s the issue.
If you don’t hate evil and wickedness you’re the problem.
Has anyone seen Rishi lately? Has he just disappeared. MP Andrew Bridgen gave a brilliant explanation of the excess mortality in the UK for the past few years. Something as important as mortality, loss of life, related to a gov’t mandated injection, in order to keep, one’s job. I think it was worth at least an hour of rishi’s time to listen to what Andrew Bridgen had to say.
Back in the day, the role of the police was to enforce the law as laid down.
Now they seem to think they have the right to interpret the law.
After decades of (unwanted) mass immigration, Londonistan is a Muslim city. Expecting the Thin Blue Line to stand up to thousands of Muslim extremists is pointless: they’re not going to.
The Government has facilitated the current situation by playing appeasement with Muslims for decades.
The solution, Sunak, is to deploy the Army. But he won’t do that ….. for fear of the consequences …. terrorist atrocities a la France.
I believe the bulk of our armed forces are in Eastern Europe.
You’re right. Well they certainly overlooked the crimes being perpetrated by a certain ethnicity of pervert and paedo in places like Rotherham, Rochdale etc didn’t they? And they’d sooner terrorize and arrest an autistic lass who said someone looked like their lesbian nana than even approach a Muslim calling for the extermination of Jews or inciting violent jihad on the streets, because ‘free speech’ is obviously open to interpretation depending on who’s enforcing it. The inconsistencies and double-standards at play are plain for all to see and an absolute joke.
Ah of course, they’re simply waiting for legislation to be “toughened up”.
That’s their excuse for helping to promote the ideological aims of a medieval death cult who want the state of Israel, Jews and soon to be non-believers wiped from the map.
This is the same as the police cowardice that got the Rotherham grooming gangs to keep going for 20 years. These asinine police officers don’t understand that their job is to protect the innocent even if the perp is a member of a protected minority.