Suella Braverman has accused the police of “double standards” in the best way they deal with protests – after Rishi Sunak conceded {that a} pro-Palestine march on Armistice Day will go forward.
The house secretary has sharply criticised the Metropolitan Police in an op-ed for The Times newspaper – saying there may be “a perception that senior police officers play favourites when it comes to protesters”.
It comes after Mr Sunak described Saturday’s deliberate march in London as “disrespectful”.
The prime minister met the chief of the Metropolitan Police on Wednesday afternoon – and had vowed to carry Sir Mark Rowley “accountable” for his determination to greenlight the demonstration.
Sir Mark had resisted calls to try to block a march going down – and mentioned that, after taking a look at intelligence, the authorized threshold for a ban had not been met.
Ms Braverman as soon as once more described pro-Palestinian protesters as “hate marchers” – writing that it’s “a phrase I do not resile from”.
That is regardless of quite a few authorities ministers saying they might not use such language.
She wrote that the marches are “problematic, not just because of violence around the fringes but because of the highly offensive content of chants, posters and stickers”.
She added: “This is not a time for naiveté. We have seen with our own eyes that terrorists have been valorised, Israel has been demonised as Nazis and Jews have been threatened with further massacres.”
Claiming {that a} double customary exists throughout the Met, she requested: “Right-wing and nationalist protesters who engage in aggression are rightly met with a stern response yet pro-Palestinian mobs displaying almost identical behaviour are largely ignored, even when clearly breaking the law?”
The house secretary additionally questioned why protests for Black Lives Matter had been allowed to go forward throughout the COVID pandemic, whereas “lockdown objectors were given no quarter by public order police”.
In phrases seeming to pile stress onto Sir Mark Rowley, she concluded: “This weekend the public will expect to see an assertive and proactive approach to any displays of hate, breaches of conditions and general disorder.”
Source: information.sky.com”