Rishi Sunak has declared that chants of “jihad” at protests were a threat to British democracy as plans were drawn up to make sure extremists are arrested at future rallies.
The prime minister said that the government would “clarify” guidance given to police after Scotland Yard faced criticism for declining to arrest protesters at a pro-Palestinian demonstration on Saturday.
He insisted that police officers already have the power to arrest those who incite violence or racial hatred and said these should be used to detain people who called for “jihad” against Israel at the rally.
Speaking in the Commons, Sunak said: “We will never tolerate antisemitism in our country. Calls for jihad on our streets are not only a threat to the Jewish community, but to our democratic values and we expect the police to take all necessary action to tackle extremism head on.”
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However, he added that the government was working with police and prosecutors to “clarify the guidance to officers on the ground” so any protesters who repeat the “hateful extremism” heard at Saturday’s protest would “feel the full force of the law”.
Sir Mark Rowley, commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, defended his officers for not making the arrests. He suggested that legislation around hate crime and extremism needed to change and his officers could not “enforce taste and decency”.
Rowley described having “constructive” talks with Suella Braverman, the home secretary, after being asked to explain why his officers did not arrest a man who was recorded shouting “jihad” at a Hizb-ut-Tahrir Britain protest in London. The force consulted prosecutors and were told that no terrorism offences had taken place.
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Rowley told reporters: “We all recognise these are really unprecedented times, with the convergence of a range of issues, Iranian threats, the horrific attack by Hamas, and our terrorism cases here. We are absolutely ruthless in tackling anybody who puts their foot over the legal line. We’re accountable for the law. We can’t enforce taste or decency, but we can enforce the law. The conversation finished around the line of the law. It’s parliament’s job to draw that line. Maybe events of the moment [illustrate] that some of the lines aren’t in the right place.”
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Asked where the law is lacking around extremism, Rowley said: “The law that we’ve designed around hate crime and terrorism over recent decades hasn’t taken full account of the ability in extremist groups to steer around those laws and propagating the truly toxic messages through social media. Those lines probably need re-drawing.”
Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, echoed Rowley’s remarks and called on the government to look at the “gaps in the law” so stronger action could be taken.
An estimated 100,000 people attended the rally on Saturday, which set off from Marble Arch to Whitehall and Parliament Square in central London. Riot police were stationed beside monuments along the route, including the statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square and Eros in Piccadilly Circus, following intelligence that some demonstrators planned vandalism. Banners seen during the rally include “Stop the new Holocaust” and “Zionism is the new Nazism”.
During the day, footage emerged of the Hizb ut-Tahrir demonstration outside the Egyptian embassy in which one man said: “What is the solution to liberate people from the concentration camp called Palestine?” A man in the crowd was filmed chanting: “Jihad, jihad.” In the background, activists unfurled a bright orange banner with “Muslim Armies! Rescue the People of Palestine” emblazoned across the front.
The literal meaning of jihad is struggle, or effort. It can refer to a believer’s internal struggle to live out their Muslim faith and to build a good Muslim society, and can also refer to holy war.
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Robert Jenrick, the immigration minister, described the chant as “reprehensible”, telling Times Radio on Sunday: “The police should be vigorously and robustly enforcing our laws and we also have to think about the values of our country beyond the legality.”
The Met defended its actions, saying that it was in real-time contact with the Crown Prosecution Service’s counterterrorism division and that it sought advice on potential acts of criminality. None were identified at the Hizb ut-Tahrir rally. The international Islamic fundamentalist group is banned in Germany and a string of other countries.
It is believed that the government is working with the police and prosecutors to clarify where the line is drawn on criminal behaviour when it comes to “threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour”. It relates to section 18 of the Public Order Act 1986.
Police have several possible options under which to arrest those spreading hate, including the Public Order Act and the Terrorism Act. However, a 2021 report from the Commission for Countering Extremism cited a “gaping chasm” between existing laws and the spread of extremist propaganda.
Scotland Yard said there had been 34 arrests for hate crime offences since the Israel-Gaza conflict escalated earlier this month. There are a further 22 cases for which officers are searching for individuals suspected of committing a crime.
