Home Secretary Suella Braverman has made it clear she will use emergency powers to prevent “sick” pro-Palestinian marches to continue in central London after a weekend of chaos.
Following the Metropolitan Police failing to take action on Saturday as marchers chanted anti-semitic slogans, carried anti-semitic and racist banners, threatened minister Michael Gove and harassed members of the public, Ms Braverman has warned: “This cannot go on!”.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), she said: “Our brave police officers deserve the thanks of every decent citizen for their professionalism in the face of violence and aggression from protesters and counter protesters in London yesterday. That multiple officers were injured doing their duty is an outrage.
“The sick, inflammatory and, in some cases, clearly criminal chants, placards and paraphernalia openly on display at the march mark a new low. Antisemitism and other forms of racism together with the valorising of terrorism on such a scale is deeply troubling.”
She added: “This can’t go on. Week by week, the streets of London are being polluted by hate, violence, and antisemitism. Members of the public are being mobbed and intimidated. Jewish people in particular feel threatened. Further action is necessary.”
With Ms Braverman set to meet Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley on Wednesday it is clear that she is now ready to trigger emergency powers.
The statement puts into question Rowley’s own future after he insisted on the marches going ahead on Armistice weekend and refused to ask the Home Secretary to use her powers under the Civil Contingency Act 2004 to ban them.
The move by the Home Secretary comes amid speculation over her own future with suggestions that she could be sacked as early as tomorrow in a reshuffle by the Prime Minister.
There have been calls for her togo after she penned an article last week calling out police chiefs for applying double standards to protests banning some but allowing lefting leftwing ones even if they include anti-semitism.
