Allies of Home Secretary Suella Braverman have warned that the Metropolitan Police have already proven her to be right in criticising them for applying double standards on how they treat protests.
There was fury as the anti-Israel pro-Palestinian march started off with protesters marching through London chanting the antisemitic slogan “from the river to the sea, Palestinians shall be free.”
The slogan calls for the destruction of Israel and has been regularly used by supporters of the Hamas terrorist group as well as other pro-Palestinian activists.
It has been regularly heard on the streets of London in the marches organised by Palestinian supporters in the wake of the murder of more than 1,400 Israeli citizens.
But on a day when the police were praised for their robust handling of far-right protesters in Whitehall, they stood back as what is seen as an antisemitic march started up again.
Ms Braverman, whose husband is Jewish, has courted controversy by describing the anti-Israel protests as “hate marches” and earlier this week she wrote an article questioning why the police rightly use their powers to deal with some protests but stand back when it comes to leftwing causes like Palestine or Black Lives Matter.
Conservative Deputy Chairman Lee Anderson has been one of Ms Braverman’s staunchest defenders over the last week.
As the marches began with the infamous chant, he told Express.co.uk: “Let’s see how this pans out. But yes she was right.”
Dudley North Conservative MP Marco Longhi said: “It’s awful. So much hatred. Everybody I have met in my constituency is backing Suella, as do I.”
Bassetlaw MP Brendan Clarke-Smith mocked leftwing attempts to blame Ms Braverman for the outrages.
She also had backing from Nigel Farage who said she was “totally” right, and Reform UK leader Richard Tice who agreed the police had proven her point.
Mr Tice tweeted the video of protesters chanting the slogan, noting: “Didn’t take long for the hateful antisemitic chanting to begin…. Incitement.”
Former Brexit Party MEP Ben Habib, now a leading member of Reform UK, added: “Sadly her [Tory] colleagues are too wet to give her the support she needs. She’s had more support from Reform UK than her own party.”
The support for Ms Braverman will make it more difficult for Rishi Sunak to remove her as Home Secretary with up to 70 Tory MPs reportedly ready to call for a leadership contest if he tries to sack her.
Added to that supporters of Ms Braverman are sending around a meme on social media saying “I support Suella Braverman.”
Questions are being asked about how tenable Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley is in his job for refusing to make a request to Ms Braverman for emergency powers to be triggered to stop this weekend’s provocative marches on Armistice Day after Ms Braverman had asked him to do it.
Meanwhile, there is anger that the police are failing to use their powers having already allowed people on protests to glorify Hamas’s terrorist acts by wearing the black paraglider symbol and flying jihadi flags as well as using antisemitic chants.
Problems around the Cenotaph were caused by the original pro-Palestinian march being allowed by police to set up a platform there draped with anti-Israeli banners.
Former Tory councillor Jezz Baker, who lives in north London and is Jewish, said: “I don’t always agree with Suella Braverman but she is completely right on this.
“We [Jews] are living in fear for our lives and the police are not helping.”
He said that the images of police tearing down posters of Israeli children kidnapped by Hamas were “extremely disturbing” and he questioned why they continue to stand back and allow anti-Semitic chants and images on the pro-Palestinian protests.
He added: “From the river to the sea is calling for the complete destruction of Israel and Jews, everybody knows it.
“It is anti-Semitic but the police just allow it to happen.”
