Suella Braverman accuses Met of ‘playing favourites’ ahead of Remembrance march

Rishi Sunak says Rowley will be held ‘accountable’ for pro-Palestine march

Suella Braverman has accused the Met Police of “playing favourites” over the pro-Palestine protests.

The Home Secretary claimed the “hate marchers” are “largely ignored, even when clearly breaking the law”.

Mrs Braverman’s intervention comes ahead of a planned demonstration in London on Armistice Day.

Writing in The Times, she said: “I do not believe that these marches are merely a cry for help for Gaza.

“They are an assertion of primacy by certain groups – particularly Islamists – of the kind we are more used to seeing in Northern Ireland.

READ MORE: Poppy sellers vanish from busy train stations over pro-Palestine protest fears

“Also disturbingly reminiscent of Ulster are the reports that some of Saturday’s march group organisers have links to terrorist groups, including Hamas.”

Mrs Braverman said there is a “perception that senior police officers play favourites when it comes to protesters”.

She said: “Right-wing and nationalist protesters who engage in aggression are rightly met with a stern response yet pro-Palestinian mobs displaying almost identical behaviour are largely ignored, even when clearly breaking the law?

“I have spoken to serving and former police officers who have noted this double standard.

“Football fans are even more vocal about the tough way they are policed as compared to politically connected minority groups favoured by the left.

“It may be that senior officers are more concerned with how much flak they are likely to get than whether this perceived unfairness alienates the majority. The Government has a duty to take a broader view.”

She added that if the march goes ahead this Saturday, the public “will expect to see an assertive and proactive approach to any displays of hate, breaches of conditions and general disorder”.

Rishi Sunak hauled in Metropolitan Police chief Sir Mark Rowley for an emergency meeting about the march planned for Remembrance day.

The Prime Minister said he would hold the Scotland Yard boss “accountable” if there was trouble.

The Met could request the power to ban the event under Section 13 of the Public Order Act 1986, but that would only apply if there was the threat of serious public disorder which could not be controlled by other measures.

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said Mrs Braverman’s article “is a highly irresponsible, dangerous attempt to undermine respect for police at a sensitive time, to rip up operational independence & to inflame community tensions”.

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