A day after some pro-Palestine demonstrators called for a ‘jihad’ on London streets, UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman is seeking an explanation from police as to why they stood by as mere bystanders. Tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched through a rainy London on Saturday to demand a ceasefire in Gaza as the Israel-Hamas war entered its third week.
Protesters gathered at Marble Arch near Hyde Park before marching to the government district, Whitehall. Police estimated the crowd that wound its way through the city for three hours at “up to 100,000.” Waving Palestinian flags and chanting “Stop bombing Gaza,” participants called for an end to Israel’s blockade and airstrikes launched in the wake of a brutal incursion into southern Israel by the Hamas that controls Gaza.
On Sunday, UK’s Daily Mail reported that Braverman will today demand an explanation from police after they stood by as pro-Palestine demonstrators called for a ‘jihad’ against Israel. Braverman will confront Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley over the force’s low-key approach to anti-Israel demonstrators peddling hate on Britain’s streets, the UK newspaper said.
She reacted angrily after the police said no laws were broken at an event on Saturday where protesters in central London called for ‘Muslim armies’ to launch a jihad to ‘liberate Palestine’. A source close to Braverman was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail that she would be ‘asking Sir Mark for an explanation over the response’ by police to incidents that took place during protests in London.
“There can be no place for incitement to hatred or violence on Britain’s streets and, as the Home Secretary has made clear, the police are urged to crack down on anyone breaking the law,” the source added.
UK Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick also slammed the hate-filled chants amounted to ‘inciting terrorist violence’. He hit out at the police for their softly-softly approach, which comes against the backdrop of a sharp rise in anti-Semitic incidents after Hamas killed 1,400 Israelis on October 7. In response, Israeli airstrikes have led to far greater casualties in Gaza. The Palestinian Health Ministry said Sunday that the death toll in Gaza had reached at least 4,651 people, with another 14,254 people wounded in the besieged territory.
The war has raised tensions around the world, with both Jewish and Muslim communities feeling under threat. Earlier this week, the British Transport Police force said it was probing an incident involving video footage posted online that appears to show a London Underground driver leading passengers in a chant of “Free, free Palestine” over the subway intercom.
London’s Metropolitan Police Force has said it has seen a 13-fold upsurge in reports of antisemitic offenses in October compared to last year. Police said there had been “pockets of disorder and some instances of hate speech” during protests over the war, but “the majority of the protest activity has been lawful and has taken place without incident.”
(With agency inputs)