Home Secretary criticises plans for pro-Gaza marches after terror attack

Pro-Palestine marches which took place in the wake of a terror attack in Manchester were “dishonourable” and “fundamentally un-British”, the Home Secretary has said.

Shabana Mahmood also called for demonstrators to “step back” from plans to hold marches in coming days, claiming this would show “some love and some solidarity” with Britain’s Jewish community following the attack.

A central London demonstration – held to protest the Israeli navy halting a flotilla carrying aid to Gaza – erupted into a clash with police officers outside of Downing Street on Thursday evening.

Large crowds carrying Palestinian flags and placards could be seen on Whitehall into the evening.

The Metropolitan Police said 40 people had been arrested in the course of the protest, six of whom were arrested for assaults on police officers.

“I was very disappointed to see those protests go ahead last night,” Ms Mahmood told Sky News.

“I think that behaviour is fundamentally un-British. I think it’s dishonourable.

“I would have wanted those individuals to just take a step back.

“The issues that are driving those protests have been going on now for some time; they don’t look like they’re going to come to an end any day soon.

“They could have stepped back and just given a community that has suffered deep loss just a day or two to process what has happened and to carry on with the grieving process.”

The Met has written to protest group Defend Our Juries, which plans to hold a march on Saturday, asking that it does not go ahead with it following the Crumpsall attack.

A letter from the force shared by Defend Our Juries raised concerns about the amount of police resources the protest would divert at a time when “visible reassurance and protective security” is needed in communities across London.

But the protest group, which has led demonstrations against the terrorist ban on Palestine Action, said it planned to go ahead with the march.

A statement from Defend Our Juries posted on social media site X said: “Today, the Metropolitan Police wrote to us to ask that we postpone Saturday’s mass protest in Trafalgar Square, citing ‘significant pressure on policing’.

“Our response in short: Don’t arrest us then.”

Another march on October 11, by the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign, is expected to end outside of the gates of Downing Street.

Ms Mahmood said she wanted protesters to think again about their plans to hold forthcoming marches.

She told GB News: “As far as I am concerned, I would have wanted to see people in this country step back from protesting for at least a few days, just to give the Jewish community here a chance to process what has happened and to begin the grieving process as well.

“I am very disappointed that some of the organisers haven’t heeded the call to step back.

“I would still call on people to show some love and some solidarity to the families of those who have been murdered and to our Jewish community.”

Speaking to LBC, Ms Mahmood later added: “I don’t think they do their cause any favours by behaving in this way.

“If the point of protest is to stand up for something and persuade other people that you are right, then I think this is entirely the wrong way to go about it, but that is on their conscience.”

Robert Jenrick, the Conservative shadow home secretary, called for protesters to “do the decent thing and go home”, branding the demonstrations on Thursday deeply disrespectful.

Speaking to GB News, he said: “Do not incite hatred, do not cause further distress to the British Jewish community on a night like that, even in Manchester, for goodness sake.”

Mr Jenrick said there is a legitimate right to protest, but there were individuals in those protests “calling for a jihad”.

“In some places, like here in Westminster, it led to violence and disruption and arrests and wasting the police’s time when they should have been focused on protesting people in our communities.

“Do the decent thing, cancel these protests.”