Suella Braverman has demanded pro-Palestinian protesters who damage the Cenotaph during a controversial Armistice Day march next week should be jailed ‘faster than their feet can hit the ground’.
The Home Secretary lashed out as London was rocked by another day of angry demonstrations which saw fireworks thrown at police in Trafalgar Square, injuring four.
Videos shared on social media of activists travelling to Trafalgar Square – where largely peaceful protests gave way to ugly scenes of pyrotechnics being hurled amid chants of ‘smash the Zionist settler state’.
Volunteers selling remembrance poppies were also surrounded by protesters inside Charing Cross station, prompting condemnation from veterans minister Johnny Mercer, who offered to ‘rattle a tin’ with the charitable trio.
And families leaving a McDonald’s in the capital were hounded amid a row over Israeli franchised restaurants giving free and discounted food to IDF soldiers.
It comes amid growing clamour for a march planned for central London on November 11 to be banned, though police and politicians including Ms Braverman and London mayor Sadiq Khan are arguing over who has the power to do so.
In an interview with Sky News filmed earlier on Saturday, Ms Braverman declined to say the march would be banned, but added: ‘If anyone were to vandalise the Cenotaph, they must be put into a jail cell faster than their feet can touch the ground.
The Home Secretary lashed out as London was rocked by another day of angry demonstrations which saw fireworks thrown at police in Trafalgar Square, injuring four.
It comes amid growing clamour for a march planned for central London on November 11 to be banned, though police and politicians including Ms Braverman and London mayor Sadiq Khan are arguing over who has the power to do so.
In an interview with Sky News filmed earlier on Saturday, Ms Braverman declined to say the march would be banned, but added: ‘If anyone were to vandalise the Cenotaph, they must be put into a jail cell faster than their feet can touch the ground.
Ms Braverman, who has previously branded London’s Gaza demos as ‘hate marches’, added that Armistice Day should be treated with the ‘solemnity with which it deserves’.
The Metropolitan Police says it has arrested 29 people in connection with crimes ranging from terrorism offences to breaching a dispersal order that was enacted by the force after fireworks were hurled at officers, injuring four.
The growing death toll since Hamas’s deadly raids on October 7 has sparked a host of protests in the UK, with thousands of pro-Palestinian supporters taking to the streets of London, Glasgow and Belfast on Saturday to demand a ceasefire.
The British Transport Police confirmed it was making inquiries into anti-Israel chanting on the tube network by demonstrators in the capital, with some protesters calling for revolution against Tel Aviv.
In one video highlighted to the Metropolitan Police on X, formerly known as Twitter, what appear to be pro-Palestinian supporters can be heard chanting: “Smash the Zionist settler state.”
A 24-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of a racially aggravated offence after footage was posted on social media which appeared to show a man praising Hamas, the Met said.
Police arrested 29 people on Saturday in connection with various alleged offences linked to the pro-Palestine protests
Dismayed British Royal Legion poppy sellers could only look on after pro-Palestine protesters engaged in a sit-in protest at Charing Cross station
Hamas is proscribed as a terror organisation in the UK and support for it is banned.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Home Secretary Suella Braverman have expressed concern about the prospect of further pro-Palestine protests next Saturday, November 11, during Armistice Day.
Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has promised to take a “robust approach” and to use “all the powers available” to ensure commemorative events are “not undermined”.
But demonstration organisers in London have pledged to avoid the Whitehall area where the Cenotaph war memorial – the focus of national remembrance events – is located.
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign is due to meet with the Met on Monday to discuss the operation and the potential route for next weekend’s demonstrations.
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