Leader of Reform Richard Tice has called for Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley to resign if Saturday's protests end in violence, following the force's decision on this weekend's planned pro-Palestine demonstrations.
There has been growing concern for protestors taking to the streets of London on Remembrance weekend, to march in support of Palestine amid the ongoing war in Israel.
Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has confirmed there will be a protest this weekend, claiming "parliament has said that can never be stopped".
Rowley stated: "In any event, we will do our utmost to absolutely ensure that Remembrance and Armistice are not compromised to the smallest degree by these events."
Sir Mark Rowley has said the police will 'ensure that Remembrance and Armistice are not compromised'
PA
Speaking on GB News, Richard Tice said protestors have the right to protest, but stated it "does not include the right to incite hate violence and anti-Semitism".
Tice claimed we are heading towards a "serious breakdown" of trust between the people and the authorities.
Reacting to the comments made by Sir Mark Rowley, Tice disagreed with host Bev Turner's view that the Commissioner "doesn't have a choice" on allowing the protests to go ahead.
Tice said: "Sir Mark Rowley absolutely does have the ability to call this out. And if you incite hatred and violence, that is within the definition of serious public disorder.
"And let me tell you, if there is any form of hatred and violence and disorder on Saturday, Sir Mark Rowley's resignation should be on the desk of the Home Secretary at 9:00am on Monday morning."
Tice continued, criticising the "failure" of government to act: "They could pass a one page bill saying this will not happen this weekend. They could also invoke the Emergencies Act if they wanted to.
"So there's a failure of leadership and in a vacuum of leadership you get chaos, a lack of respect, and the British people are suffering a sad wake up call as to what is going on. There's a complete breakdown of trust and confidence."
Host Andrew Pierce agreed with Tice, admitting: "I get rather irritated when people say well it's not significant, the big thing happens on Sunday when they royal family are there and the Prime Ministers are there. Hang on, it is Armistice hour 11:00 on Saturday."
Richard Tice has called for Sir Mark Rowley to resign
GB News
Bev Turner shared her view on the protests, arguing against Tice: "I'm glad that we still have the right in this country to protest, because we've come very close to losing that on multiple occasions.
"I think we need to work out in the long term who do we want to be as a liberal Western democracy? We risk reacting in a way that fundamentally changes who we are and becoming more like totalitarian states."
Tice fought back against Bev, asking: "Is it more important to you to have that right to protest or actually to protect the Jewish community from anti-Semitism? Because that is the choice."
Bev replied: "I don't think it's that binary though, to be completely honest. I think it must be awful to be a Jewish person in this country at the moment. I think it must be incredibly frightening to be walking down the street, and you certainly wouldn't want to be there at the weekend.
"And I hate the idea that we've got streets in this country where you can't go as a Jewish person. I find that deeply disturbing. But I don't know how we can ban this protest without becoming the kind of country that we don't want to be."