Pro-Palestine Protests Slammed For 'Inciting Terrorist Violence'

Following the pro-Palestine protests in London last weekend, Home Secretary Suella Braverman announced that she will be questioning the Metropolitan Police (Met) service on their response to the demonstrations.

Today, Monday 23 October, Braverman is set to meet with Met Chief Sir Mark Rowley about the incidents that occurred during the protests.

A source close to Braverman told reporters that the Home Secretary will not be questioning Sir Rowley on his opinions of his team's response to the rally.

The source also recognised that the meeting had been planned for weeks, due to the huge increase in antisemitism after Israel formerly declared war on Hamas.

The Met Police force says it has seen a 13-fold upsurge in reports of antisemitic offences in October compared to last year. The Met also found that anti-Muslim crimes have more than doubled, compared to last year.

The source close to Braverman also noted that there is "no place for incitement to hatred or violence on Britain's streets" and that it is clear that Braverman is urging the Met to "crackdown on anyone breaking the law".

Braverman controversially warned that it is "widely understood", that the chanting of "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" calls for the total destruction of Israel and is in support of Hamas' ideology.

However, the slogan "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" is also recognised as a political call to put an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.

Despite the Met declaring that the chant does not constitute as a criminal offence, Braverman has previously urged the service to "consider... whether its use in certain contexts may amount to a racially aggravated" crime.

During a rally, a rally separate from the main march and led by Hizb ut-Tahrir, video footage posted online showed a man chanting "jihad, jihad".

Hizb ut-Tahrir is an Islamic international political organisation, which aspires to unite the Muslim communities and to implement Sharia on a global scale.

After being quizzed on their response to the chanting in the video, the Met released a statement that said it "had not identified any offences arising from the specific clip".

The Met statement also revealed that there will be no further actions taken against protestors holding banners that referred to "Muslim armies".

It has been expected that at the meeting, Sir Rowley will tell Braverman that the current laws on certain hate crimes make it difficult to prosecute anyone.

Sir Rowley is also expected to explain that the problem with prosecution lies within the public order and terrorism legislation, considering the many hurdles that lead to a legitimate charge.

The main march, which occurred on Saturday 21 October, also sparked outrage when two men were spotted waving black al-Qaeda flags. Images of several anti-Jewish signs being held at the rally were also shared on social media.

Despite signs linked to antisemitism and terrorism being casually displayed at the march, the Met said that "the majority of the protest activity has been lawful and has taken place without incident.".

On Sunday 22 October, Home Office Minister Robert Jenrick told Sky News: "Chanting 'jihad' on the streets of London is completely reprehensible and I never want to see scenes like that."

Jenrick added that the chant amounted to "inciting terrorist violence" and should be "tackled with the full force of the law".

A total of ten people were arrested by Met officers during the Saturday protest, which saw an estimated 100,000 demonstrators take to the streets of London.

On Sunday, tens of thousands of people also appeared in London, to once again call for the freedom of Palestinians.