Suella Braverman is being urged to bring in emergency powers to take back control of Britain’s streets and ban the anti-Israel “hate marches”.
A former adviser to David Cameron and Tory MPs are getting behind calls for the Home Secretary to get a grip on the Metropolitan Police as confidence in the leadership of its Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley is hitting rock bottom.
With a million-person march planned by pro-Palestinian and anti-Hamas campaigners this weekend, there are concerns that one of the most important dates in the British calendar will be disrupted by violence.
Protest groups, which include supporters of the Palestinian terror group Hamas, have refused an appeal by the police to back down on their plans to wreck Remembrance weekend with demonstrations in London on Armistice Day this Saturday.
Fears of violence and disruption during Remembrance Day are among some of the topics expected to be covered in an emergency COBRA meeting convened by the Prime Minister later today.
There are concerns that it will see monuments like the Cenotaph violated again and that Hamas supporters will be allowed to glorify the terror attacks on Israel which saw 1,400 innocent civilians killed, make anti-Semitic chants and fly black Jihadi flags as they have in the previous demonstrations.
Protest groups have attempted to quell these fears by insisting they will not march near Whitehall or the Cenotaph this weekend.
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There is fury that the “hate marches”, as Ms Braverman herself has dubbed them, have not been blocked from these activities and celebrating the murder of Israelis while the police have stopped anti-Semitism campaigners from displaying posters of the children kidnapped by Hamas.
Sir Mark Rowley has admitted that the Met may need to ask for help from other forces.
Phillip Blond, the director of the Respublica think tank and former adviser to David Cameron, has said Ms Braverman needs to take on the powers to “ban the march”.
He said that the Government should no longer hide behind the concept of police operational independence when the police have failed to protect Britain’s streets.
He told Express.co.uk: “The loss of direction and purpose in our country and in our state is nowhere more evident than the Metropolitan Police.
“In the face of openly anti-Semitic demonstrations – where protestors chant for jihad and the Met desperately tries to understand it as an exportation to personal self-development so they don’t have to act – the Government must act.”
He went on: “The putative operational independence granted to the police has allowed them to breach their primary mission – public safety. If the police retreat from public security the Government cannot.
“They know these protests are supported and funded in part by Hamas and Iran, they are without doubt a threat to national security.
“Time to act and recover control over the Met, by making the Commissioner directly responsible to the Home Secretary and yes ban the March immediately. Anything else is a dereliction of duty.”
Mr Blond made his comments amid fury after protesters were accused of punching a 78-year-old military veteran and taking over railway stations including Liverpool Street in London swarming poppy collectors.
Additionally, McDonalds restaurants have been targeted by protesters unleashing boxes of mice in them as revenge for the popular fast food chain standing by Israel.
Mr Blond’s demands reflect growing calls by Tory MPs for action.
Ipswich MP Tom Hunt, deputy chairman of the Common Sense Group of Tory MPs, said: “Whatever must be done to stop the protests on Saturday. Everything should be on the table.”
Meanwhile, Stoke North MP Jonathan Gullis has demanded that police “get a grip” on the situation.
With the agreement of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Ms Braverman has the authority to call a State of Emergency through the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 which was an update of the Emergency Powers Act 1964 and 1920 State of Emergency Act.
This can be used to ban marches and if necessary impose curfews.
