No plans to give police more powers after outcry over ‘jihad’ chants

Home Secretary Suella Braverman met Scotland Yard chief Sir Mark Rowley on Monday to discuss policing.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman met Sir Mark Rowley on Monday (Joe Giddens/PA) (PA Wire)

Police are unlikely to be given more powers to address chants deemed to be extremist after comments at a Palestine rally over the weekend, Downing Street has signalled.

It comes as Home Secretary Suella Braverman met Scotland Yard chief Sir Mark Rowley to urge the use of the “full force of the law” after video emerged of a pro-Palestinian protester chanting “jihad”.

She has been holding talks with the Metropolitan Police commissioner after officers said no offences were identified in the footage from the demonstration in central London over the weekend.

Downing Street indicated that there were no plans to change the law, despite concern over footage from a demonstration by the Hizb ut-Tahrir fundamentalist group, which was separate to the main rally.

We do believe the police have extensive powers in this space and we will continue to discuss with them so there is clarity and agreement about how they can be deployed on the ground

Prime Minister’s official spokesman

The Met has pointed out that jihad has “a number of meanings”, and said that specialist counter-terrorism officers had not identified any offences arising from the specific clip from Saturday.

Instead, officers spoke to the man to “discourage any repeat of similar chanting”.

“Some of these scenes will have likely been incredibly distressing for people to witness, not least to the UK’s Jewish community who deserve to feel safe at what must be an incredibly traumatic time,” the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said on Monday.

“That’s why the Government is working so closely with the police and other groups to ensure there is clarity for those officers on the ground where they believe the law has been broken.

“We will continue to discuss with the police about what more can be done but they do have a number of powers available to them.

“We do believe the police have extensive powers in this space and we will continue to discuss with them so there is clarity and agreement about how they can be deployed on the ground.”

It comes after Home Office minister Robert Jenrick said chanting the word on the streets of the capital is “inciting terrorist violence”.

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

Source close to the Home Secretary

Ministers were urged in 2021 to do more to tackle extremism, with the official watchdog the Commission for Countering Extremism concluding that gaps within current legislation have left it harder to tackle “hateful extremism”.

Sir Mark, who co-authored the report before he was the Met commissioner, said at the time he was “shocked and horrified by the ghastliness and volume of hateful extremist materials and behaviour which is lawful in Britain”.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4, the former commissioner for countering extremism Dame Sara Khan said: “The Government has not closed or addressed these gaps in the legislation that our report highlighted.

“The word jihad does have a range of different meanings and the Met were right to make that point. I think it is really important that what we tried to highlight with the report is that there is a subsection of extremist activity in this country that extremist groups operate and exploit.”

A source close to the Home Secretary said: “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.”

Her Cabinet colleague, Mark Harper, said the footage from the weekend was “disturbing”.

Sir Keir Starmer urged ministers to look at addressing “gaps in the law” as he warned of a “huge increase” in hate crimes in recent weeks.

Visiting the Port Talbot steelworks, the Labour leader told broadcasters: “Obviously the police are independent operationally so these are decisions for them.

“But I think there have already been identified some gaps in the law in a previous review under this Government and I think the Government needs to look at whether there are gaps in the law that need to be addressed as well.”

A video posted on social media shows a man speaking into a microphone on Saturday 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 demonstrators using the microphone to speak about a “solution” of “jjhad”.

The word can mean struggle or effort, but it has also been taken to refer to holy war.

London has a zero tolerance approach to hate crime. If anyone has broken the law, strong action will be taken against them

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan

The Met said that specialist Crown Prosecution Service lawyers had agreed no offence could be identified in the footage from the Hizb ut-Tahrir protest.

“The word has a number of meanings but we know the public will most commonly associate it with terrorism,” the force said in a statement.

“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.”

Jewish safety organisation the Community Security Trust criticised the Met, saying that “in trying to communicate complex and nuanced legal issues” on social media “they gave the impression of legitimising obnoxious and hateful behaviour that may or may not be criminal but nevertheless causes profound concern to British Jews and many other people”.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said: “The vast majority of yesterday’s protests were peaceful, but I’m aware of some disturbing and offensive comments.

“London has a zero tolerance approach to hate crime. If anyone has broken the law, strong action will be taken against them.”

An investigation was also under way after footage showed a Tube driver leading a chant of “free Palestine” on the London Underground.