UK: Home Sec. Meets With Police Chief Over Jihad Chant at Palestine Rally

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Facts

  • British Home Secretary Suella Braverman held talks with the Metropolitan police chief Sir Mark Rowley on Monday, after video footage from a Pro-Palestine rally in London showed several protestors shouting 'jihad.'1
  • Several hundred people protested outside the Turkish and Egyptian embassies in London on Saturday. At the demonstration, organized by Hizb ut-Tahrir, a speaker asked what should be done to “liberate people in the concentration camp called Palestine,” to which several protestors were recorded shouting 'jihad.'2
  • The Metropolitan Police said that its specialist counterterrorism officers had reviewed the footage and did not identify any offenses in the clip, stating that 'jihad' has 'a number of meanings” despite many often “most commonly associat[ing] it with terrorism'.3
  • A spokesperson for PM Rishi Sunak states the remarks were 'incredibly distressing.” Both Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and Britain’s former head of counter-terrorism Neil Basu have called for the closure of 'legal loopholes' allowing for ‘jihad’ to be shouted at protests.4
  • Under the UK's Public Order Act, inciting violence is an offense that is directed at another person. Under the country's Terrorism Act, the offense of 'encouragement of terrorism' requires prosecutors to demonstrate that a defendant has influenced others to 'commit, prepare or instigate acts of terrorism.'5
  • The incident took place at a one of the smaller rallies in London, while a larger demonstration containing an estimated 100K attendees marched in solidarity with Palestinian civilians. More than 1K police officers were present at the protest and at least 34 arrests were made.5

Sources: 1Metro, 2Independent, 3Sky News, 4The Guardian and 5BBC News.

Narratives

  • Narrative A, as provided by Morning Star. The Metropolitan Police have responded appropriately to this incident, underlining the wider spectrum of meaning associated with the term ‘jihad’ despite the government’s best efforts to interfere in the legal process. In this instance, despite pressure from Westminster, the Met. have remained apolitical, focusing on the law rather than the desires of Westminster.
  • Narrative B, as provided by The Telegraph. To argue that the term ‘jihad’ was not used with the intention of violence at a rally hosted by a fundamentalist conservative Islamist organization concerning Palestine’s current status in the Middle East is senseless. While Jewish communities in London remain afraid and at risk, the state and the media have proven too weak to take a stand and condemn the advocation of terrorist behavior.