Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman clashed with GB News' Eamonn Holmes as she hit out at Sir Mark Rowley, claiming the Met Police boss has allowed “unprecedented levels” of antisemitism to fester in London.
Braverman called for the Met boss to quit over the weekend over the approach taken to pro-Palestine demonstrations in the capital.
The Met Police are under fire for their handling of an antisemitism charity leader who was stopped in the Aldwych area of London, near pro-Palestine protesters, and warning his presence was causing a “breach of peace” due to him being “openly Jewish”.
Speaking on GB News, the former Home Secretary said that if Rowley doesn’t feel his force is fully capable of effectively quelling the threat of antisemitism, the marches should be banned.
The former Home Secretary wants the police to adopt a different approach to the marches she has dubbed 'hateful'
Campaign Against Antisemitism/PA Wire / GB NEWS
“What the police should have done is confronted the threat directly”, Braverman said.
“If they believe there are people, individuals, groups, who are threatening, abusive or behaving in an antisemitic way, they should have been warning those people or arresting those people for committing an offence.
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“Not the opposite, which was to threaten to arrest an innocent Jewish citizen who was going to exercise his right to protest peacefully.
“That is a total inversion of right and wrong and reflects the wrong approach that has been taken to police these protests.”
GB News’ Eamonn Holmes grilled Braverman on the matter, suggesting the police adopted the “practical approach” to deal with the situation.
“I think the big problem here is, the police were suggesting he looked ‘openly Jewish’, and he did”, Eamonn countered.
Suella Braverman wants pro-Palestine marches banned
GB NEWS
Braverman responded: “If the police don’t have the resources to keep the streets of London safe for everyone to enjoy they need to ban the march.
“That is up to the Met Commissioner to apply to the Home Secretary if he believes he doesn’t have sufficient resources to enable the public order to be maintained.
“What is horrendous about this is to be asking someone to stay away because of their ethnicity or because they are ‘openly Jewish’ is a disgrace.”
Eamonn hit back again, suggesting the approach taken was the “safe thing to do”.
Thousands of pro-Palestine protesters have marched through London since the start of the Israel-Hamas warPA“Are you seriously telling me, if you were a police officer, you would have said ‘walk in the middle of that whole protest looking Jewish as you do, and we will guarantee your safety’, are you saying that’s what should have happened?”, he asked.
“There was abuse being shouted at him”, said Braverman.
“The police should be arresting those who commit criminal offences, not allowing them the space to continue their criminality and urging everybody else to stay out of the way.
“That’s a totally wrong approach to policing.
“War is terrible. There has been tragedy in the Middle East and there is strongly held views on both sides.
“If the police assess there is a risk of antisemitic violence, these can no longer be described as peaceful marches.”
The former Home Secretary went on to suggest that the police have “turned a blind eye” on the matter.
“We have seen for months now antisemitic chanting, the chanting of jihad, antisemitic slogans, the scaling of war memorials, the firing of flares”, she said.
“The police have allowed that to happen, they have turned a blind eye.
“As a result, we’re seeing unprecedented levels of antisemitism and disproportionate levels of police resource being applied to these marches.”