Pro-Palestine marches to continue after Sunak
‘extremists’ speech
Organiser suggests PM consider own MPs’ behaviour
after speech about rise in ‘extremist disruption’
Guardian
staff and agency
Sat 2 Mar
2024 09.35 GMT
Pro-Palestine
protests are to continue across the UK on Saturday after Rishi Sunak’s warning
that democracy was being targeted by “extremists”.
In an
address to the nation on Friday, the prime minister spoke about “forces here at
home trying to tear us apart”, in the aftermath of the 7 October attacks by
Hamas against Israel.
Speaking
outside 10 Downing Street, Sunak said “our democracy itself is a target” and
decried a recent “shocking increase in extremist disruption and criminality”.
He
described the victory of George Galloway in the Rochdale byelection as “beyond
alarming”. He also spoke directly to those taking part in pro-Palestine
protests, urging organisers to demonstrate peacefully and “with empathy”.
He said he
had told senior police chiefs the public expected the protests to be policed
rather than simply managed.
Sunak said:
“I want to speak directly to those who choose to continue to protest: don’t let
the extremists hijack your marches. You have a chance in the coming weeks to
show that you can protest decently, peacefully and with empathy for your fellow
citizens.
“Let us
prove these extremists wrong and show them that even when we disagree, we will
never be disunited.”
The prime
minister said a line had to be drawn so that while people should be able to
“march and protest with passion” in support of Gaza, demonstrators “cannot call
for violent jihad” to justify the actions of the Palestinian militant group
Hamas – a group that is proscribed in the UK, which bans any show of support –
or “call for the eradication of a state or any kind of hatred or antisemitism”.
The Labour
leader, Keir Starmer, appeared to back Sunak’s message calling for unity in the
country.
He said:
“The prime minister is right to advocate unity and to condemn the unacceptable
and intimidatory behaviour that we have seen recently.”
Sunak’s
comments were also criticised, particularly by those he took aim at, including
Galloway, who secured almost 40% of the vote in a constituency that has a
strong Muslim population.
Galloway
accused Sunak of using Britain’s Muslim population as a “whipping boy” and
treating them as “second-class voters”.
“And that
is what he was doing in Downing Street today, a despicable and dangerous
thing,” said the newly elected MP, who has been a divisive figure in British
politics in recent decades.
“And
secondly, alarmed at the growing support for Palestine, for Gaza in Britain,
the attempt is being made to paint these peaceful demonstrators – almost always
demonstrating without a single arrest being made, without so much as a paper
cup being dropped – they are trying to conflate peaceful democratic protest in
Britain with some kind of mob, with some kind of violence and intimidation.”
The Liberal
Democrat leader, Ed Davey, said: “The British people will take no lessons from
a prime minister and Conservative party who have sowed the seeds of division
for years.”
Ben Jamal,
the director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, responded to the prime
minister’s address by suggesting he “look in the mirror” and expel some senior
MPs from his party.
Posting on
X, Jamal said: “So Rishi Sunak wants to deal with ‘extremists’. Maybe he should
start with politicians, political commentators and religious leaders who
support a state, on trial for genocide, in its mass slaughter, and deliberate
creation of famine. Not those protesting against it.
“As for his
ire at those who seek to divide us, does he ever look in the mirror, or around
his cabinet table? Come back when you’ve kicked Suella Braverman, Robert
Jenrick [and] Michael Gove out. That’s just for starters.”
Many of the
protests this weekend are directed against Barclays Bank, which the group
claims holds “substantial financial ties with arms companies supplying weapons
and military technology to Israel”.
Branches of
the bank will be the focus of protests on high streets from Abergavenny, south
Wales, to Worthing, West Sussex, according to the group.
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