Suella Braverman to tell Met to use ‘full force of the law’ after ‘jihad’ chants at Palestine protest

Suella Braverman will tell Met Police chief Sir Mark Rowley to use the “full force of the law” in response to pro-Palestine protesters chanting “jihad”, a minister has said.

The Home Secretary will make clear the police should “crack down on anyone breaking the law”, but the force has said no offences were identified in a video of a Hizb ut-Tahrir protest showing a man chanting “jihad” in London on Saturday.

Speaking to Times Radio, Transport Secretary Mark Harper said “many people would have been disturbed” by the clip, adding: “The Home Secretary will make it clear that the Government thinks the full force of the law should be used.

“The police are operationally independent, which I think is appropriate, and they will have to explain the reasons for the decisions they have taken,” he added.

A source close to Mrs Braverman said: “The Home Secretary is already due to meet the Metropolitan Police commissioner tomorrow to discuss the ongoing Israel-Gaza protests and will be asking for an explanation over the response to incidents which took place on Saturday.

“There can be no place for incitement to hatred or violence on Britain’s streets and, as the Home Secretary has made clear, the police are urged to crack down on anyone breaking the law.”

Speaking on Sunday, Home Office minister Robert Jenrick said chanting the word on the streets of the capital is “inciting terrorist violence”.

“That’s something that we intend to raise with them and to discuss this incident with them,” he said.

A video posted on social media shows a man speaking into a microphone in front of a banner reading “Muslim Armies! Rescue the People of Palestine”.

The main speaker asks: “What is the solution to liberate people from the concentration camp called Palestine?”

A man standing to the side of the speaker, but neither on a platform nor speaking into the microphone, can then be heard chanting words including “jihad”, as can some others attending the protest.

Other clips posted on social media from the same protest show speakers using the microphone to speak about a “solution” of “jihad”.

The Met responded to the post on social media, saying the word “jihad” has “a number of meanings”, and that specialist counter-terrorism officers had not identified any offences arising from the specific clip filmed in central London.

“Specialist officers have assessed the video and have not identified any offences arising from the specific clip. We have also sought advice from specialist Crown Prosecution Service lawyers, who have reached the same conclusion,” the statement continued:

“However, recognising the way language like this will be interpreted by the public and the divisive impact it will have, officers identified the man involved and spoke to him to discourage any repeat of similar chanting.”

Jihad can mean struggle or effort, but it has also been taken to refer to holy war and the struggle to defend Islam, with force if necessary.