London Pro-Palestine Protests: Suella Braverman’s Comment On Police Bias Sparks Criticism
Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, sparked controversy by criticising the Metropolitan Police for their response to pro-Palestinian marches. Ms Braverman stated in The Times that the police department has a "double standard" when it comes to protests and describing pro-Palestine protesters as “hate marchers”.
She said police "rightly met with a stern response" right-wing protestors who were violent, while "pro-Palestinian mobs" were "largely ignored." Ex-police officers and current lawmakers have all spoken out against her remarks.
Labour accuses Home Secretary Braverman of eroding police independence and "deliberately creating division," leading to calls for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to dismiss Braverman.
One senior Conservative MP told the BBC: "The home secretary's awfulness is now a reflection on the prime minister. Keeping her in post is damaging him."
However, the home secretary's conservative allies have defended her, saying that Saturday's planned pro-Palestinian march in central London should not have been permitted to happen.
Conservative lawmaker Danny Kruger said Ms Braverman was within her rights to speak out about the "broader culture of police" and dismissed concerns that she was meddling.
Ms Braverman's comments come after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak conducted a meeting with Met Police commissioner Sir Mark Rowley to discuss security ahead of Saturday's March, which falls on Armistice Day.
The prime minister has encouraged the organisers to cancel Saturday's march, calling the date "provocative and disrespectful," while neither Mr Sunak nor Ms Braverman have openly called for the police to ban the march.
The home secretary wrote that there is "a perception that senior officers play favourites when it comes to protesters" in an article for The Times.
The home secretary stated that the protests for Palestinian rights that began last month in reaction to Israel's closure of Gaza had been "problematic" due to "violence around the fringes" and "highly offensive" shouts, banners, and stickers.
"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," she wrote.
Mr Sunak's team reportedly offered edits to the home secretary's draft, but not all of them were included in the version of the piece that ran last night, as reported by the BBC.
In response to a BBC inquiry, a government official said, "We are not commenting on internal process."
Since Hamas gunmen launched an unprecedented attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip on 7 October, killing over 1,400 people and seizing over 200 prisoners, there have been daily rallies in London.
Since then, Israel has responded with airstrikes and, more recently, a ground operation against Gaza. According to the Hamas-controlled health ministry, over 10,500 individuals have lost their lives in Gaza.
The police in London have been under growing pressure to stop Saturday's pro-Palestinian march.
However, Sir Mark has stated that it can only be halted in the event of a very serious threat of unrest, and that this "very high threshold" has not yet been met.
Despite widespread agreement with the substance of Ms Braverman's article, many of the home secretary's colleagues have expressed exasperation at having to continuously justify — or distance themselves from — her words.
A government official described Ms. Braverman's involvement as "unhinged" to the BBC.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan called it "irresponsible," while Labour's Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper called it a "dangerous attempt to undermine respect for police."
"The PM's weakness when it comes to standing up to Suella is the most shocking thing in all this," claimed a senior Labour source.
"Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said Mr Sunak "must finally act with integrity by sacking his out-of-control home secretary".
"Suella Braverman is now putting police officers in harm's way ahead of far right protesters flocking to the capital this weekend," stated Sir Ed. The way the march is handled, he argued, should be an operational decision for officers, and her comments showed the "increasing politicisation of policing."
Ms Braverman stated that the marches were "not merely a cry for help for Gaza," but rather "an assertion of primacy by certain groups — particularly Islamists," similar to what we would see in Northern Ireland.
According to the BBC, a source close to the home secretary explained that the remark was made in relation to the actions of "dissident republicans."
One Conservative Party source who saw the piece and responded to it termed the parallels to Northern Ireland "wholly offensive and ignorant."
Ms Braverman inquired as to why "lockdown objectors were given no quarter by public order police yet Black Lives Matters demonstrators were enabled, allowed to break rules" .
The home secretary stated, "I have spoken to serving and former police officers who have noted this double standard."
Nadine Dorries, a former cabinet member, said that Ms Braverman was aiming to get fired so that she could use her martyrdom as a political tool for the right. "The competition is on now for who is going to be the leader of the opposition," Ms Dorries told BBC.