Nicola Slawson
Police will have to explain the response to a pro-Palestine protester chanting “jihad”, a cabinet minister has said ahead of a meeting between Suella Braverman and the Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley.
The home secretary will urge Rowley to use the “full force of the law” after video emerged of a protester chanting “jihad” at a demonstration by the Hizb ut-Tahrir fundamentalist group, which was separate to the main pro-Palestine rally, PA Media reports.
Officers said no offences were identified in the footage from the demonstration in central London over the weekend.
Braverman’s cabinet colleague, Mark Harper, said the footage from the weekend was “disturbing”.
The transport secretary told Times Radio:
The home secretary will make it clear that the government thinks the full force of the law should be used.
The police are operationally independent, which I think is appropriate, and they will have to explain the reasons for the decisions they have taken.
The Met has pointed out that jihad has “a number of meanings”, and said that specialist counter-terrorism officers had not identified any offences arising from the specific clip from Saturday.
Instead, officers spoke to the man to “discourage any repeat of similar chanting”.
But the home office minister Robert Jenrick said chanting the word on the streets of the capital is “inciting terrorist violence”.
Braverman will use her scheduled meeting to discuss protests surrounding the Israel-Gaza conflict to ask Rowley for “an explanation over the response to incidents” on Saturday.
A source close to the home secretary added:
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.
Welcome to today’s liveblog. I’m Nicola Slawson and I’m covering for Andrew Sparrow today. Do drop me a line if you have any questions or comments. I’m on [email protected] or @Nicola_Slawson on X, the site formerly known as Twitter.