Home Secretary Suella Braverman accused the police of acting more leniently toward pro-Palestinian demonstrators and Black Lives Matter supporters than to right-wing protesters or soccer hooligans.
ADVERTISEMENTBritain’s interior minister has accused the country’s largest police force of being more lenient toward pro-Palestinian demonstrators than other groups, deepening a political feud sparked by the Israel-Hamas war.
In a highly unusual attack on the police, Home Secretary Suella Braverman said London’s Metropolitan Police force was ignoring lawbreaking by “pro-Palestinian mobs.” She described demonstrators calling for a ceasefire in Gaza as “hate marchers.”
Pro-Palestinian rallies have been held in London and other British cities every weekend since the war began more than a month ago. The government has criticised organisers for planning a march on Saturday because it is Armistice Day, the anniversary of the end of World War I, when many in Britain pause to remember the victims of war.
The march is a day before the main Remembrance Sunday commemorations, when King Charles III, senior politicians, diplomats, military leaders and veterans attend a wreath-laying ceremony at the Cenotaph war memorial in central London. The planned route does not pass close to the monument, which is steps from Parliament.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has criticized planned protests on Remembrance weekend as “provocative and disrespectful.” But after summoning police chief Mark Rowley for talks on Wednesday, Sunak said the government backed “the right to peacefully protest."
Favoured demonstrations
That appeared to end the dispute, but Braverman escalated it dramatically with an article in Thursday’s edition of the Times of London newspaper. She accused the police of acting more leniently toward pro-Palestinian demonstrators and Black Lives Matter supporters than to right-wing protesters or soccer hooligans.
Braverman said “there is a perception that senior police officers play favourites when it comes to protesters,” and called demonstrations calling for a cease-fire in Gaza “an assertion of primacy by certain groups,” particularly Islamic extremists.
“Terrorists have been valorized, Israel has been demonized as Nazis and Jews have been threatened with further massacres,” she said.
Hundreds of thousands of people have taken part in demonstrations every Saturday since the war began, organised by left-wing groups and Muslim organisations. There also have been large rallies supporting Israel and demanding Hamas free the hostages it seized in its 7 October attack.
Arrests and banned protests
Police say there have been almost 200 arrests across London related to the conflict since that date, including 98 for suspected antisemitic offences and 21 for alleged anti-Muslim offences.
Protests can be banned in Britain only if there is a risk of serious disorder. Police said that threshold has not been met, though they are worried that “breakaway groups intent on fuelling disorder” may show up, including far-right activists.
Opposition Labour Party spokeswoman Yvette Cooper said Braverman was “deliberately undermining respect for the police” and “seeking to create division.”
“She is deliberately inflaming community tensions in the most dangerous of ways,” Cooper said in the House of Commons.
Countries around the world have grappled with how to handle the strong emotions stirred by the conflict. France’s interior minister on 12 October issued an order to local authorities nationwide to ban pro-Palestinian protests, citing risks to public order. France’s highest administrative authority overturned the blanket ban a week later and said decisions should be made locally based on risks to public order.
Since then, France has seen several pro-Palestinian protests, some authorised and peaceful, some banned and quickly dispersed by police.