Two-tier policing fears as CPS orders crackdown on 'offensive' speech ahead of Unite the Kingdom rally

Two major rallies are set for later today: Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom event, and a pro-Palestine Nakba Day march.

Prosecutors have been told to consider whether protest placards, banners and chants viewed on social media may amount to offences of stirring up hatred during the rallies.

It said the advice is designed to reflect "the changing international context".

The guidance also tells prosecutors to consider heightened tensions linked to national or international events.

"Some chants may amount to a criminal offence," the CPS said.

Stephen Parkinson, the Director of Public Prosecutions, insisted the move was "not about restricting free speech".

But he warned that words which "cause fear and intimidation within our communities" may fall foul of the law.

"This is not about restricting free speech," he said. "This is about preventing crime, maintaining public order and protecting the public."

But Suella Braverman, the former Attorney General-turned Reform UK MP, has accused the CPS of promoting "two-tier policing".

Mrs Braverman said: "How intriguing that you've chosen not to post guidance like this before the numerous hate marches we've seen in London - all of which have involved antisemitic chants, slogans, symbols and banners.

"Two-tier policing at its finest."

The ex-Home Secretary levelled the same accusation at the Met last October when it stopped a Ukip march from going ahead in east London over fears of provoking the local Muslim community.

"The message is that the right to protest depends not on the law but on who you are - and who might be offended by your presence," she wrote in The Telegraph.

"Curiously, this same power to ban a march was not used for two years of pro-Palestine hate marches, many of which descended into open celebration of extremism and violence."

Already, Sir Keir Starmer has banned 11 foreign nationals from entering the UK who were due to speak at the Unite the Kingdom event.

Downing Street claimed the move was intended "to protect British communities from vile hate".

The rally, organised by Tommy Robinson, will be attended by around 50,000 participants.

The activist described it this morning as "the greatest patriotic display the world has ever seen".

Some 30,000 more are set to march for Nakba Day.

That event marks the "Nakba" - a day of mourning for when Palestinians left or were expelled from the country after Israel declared independence in 1948.

Speaking during a visit to a Metropolitan Police command centre in Lambeth on Friday, the PM then turned his fire on Unite the Kingdom organisers for "peddling hatred and division, plain and simple".

Sir Keir carried out his visit to Lambeth alongside Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley and London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan before today's rallies.

Sir Mark, seated in front of live CCTV images of different parts of the capital, told the PM: “We’ve got a time when hate crime has been escalated for the last two or three years.”

He added: “And then ‘small p’ politics and protest groups who have got more polarised and angry, and so both groups at the weekend have a track record of having an intimidatory effect on the communities.”

GB News has approached the CPS for comment regarding Mrs Braverman's remarks.