The Metropolitan Police has said a video taken in central London today, showing a group of protesters repeatedly calling for “jihad”, did not reveal any crimes.
A video posted on X, formerly Twitter, showed a crowd of mainly men protesting outside the Egyptian embassy in the capital.
The men were from Hizb ut-Tahrir, a “revolutionary Islamist party” according to the Henry Jackson Society, and had gathered as thousands marched in support of Palestine amid ongoing tensions in the Middle East.
The speaker, who so far has not been named, addressed the crowd, saying: “What is the solution to liberate people from the concentration camp called Palestine?”
A group of protestors responded, saying: “Jihad! Jihad! Jihad!”
In response to the video, a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said: “The word jihad has a number of meanings but we know the public will most commonly associate it with terrorism.
“We have specialist counter terrorism officers here in the operations room who have particular knowledge in this area. They have assessed this video, filmed at the Hizb ut-Tahrir protest in central London today, and have not identified any offences arising from the specific clip.
“However, recognising the way language like this will be interpreted by the public and the divisive impact it will have, officers have identified the man involved and will be speaking to him shorty to discourage any repeat of similar chanting.”
In a separate video, posted on social media, the same speaker said: “The only solution is jihad by the armies of the Muslim countries.”
Pointing to the crowd, he added: “Not by you and me. Who are we? What training do I have?
“There are people with arms in Egypt, in Pakistan, in Saudi Arabia, in Jordan – across the Muslim world.
“And right now they are boiling like we are boiling.”
