Police are unlikely to be given more powers to address chants deemed to be extremist after comments at a Palestine rally over the weekend, despite suggestions from the Metropolitan Police chief that laws may need to be redrawn.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman met Scotland Yard chief Sir Mark Rowley on Monday, where she had been expected to urge the use of the “full force of the law” after video emerged of a pro-Palestinian protester chanting “jihad”.
Officers had said no offences were identified in the footage from the demonstration in central London over the weekend.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Sir Mark said police could only enforce the law and not “taste and decency”.
We can’t enforce taste or decency, but we can enforce the law— Scotland Yard chief Sir Mark Rowley
It comes as 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.
The Met had 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”.
The Met chief defended the approach taken by the force, as he suggested that recent demonstrations had shown current rules need “redrawing”.
Sir Mark, before he headed the Met, was involved in a report from 2021 that urged ministers to do more to tackle extremism.
The official watchdog the Commission for Countering Extremism concluded then that gaps within current legislation had left it harder to tackle “hateful extremism”.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Sir Mark said: “We are absolutely ruthless in tackling anybody who puts their foot over the legal line. We’re accountable for the law. We can’t enforce taste or decency, but we can enforce the law.”
He added: “The conversation finished really around the line of the law. It’s our job to enforce to that line. It’s Parliament’s job to draw that line. And the thought that maybe events at the moment … maybe some of the lines aren’t quite in the right place.”
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
Sir Mark went on: “The law that we’ve designed around hate crime and terrorism over recent decades hasn’t taken full account of the ability in extremist groups to steer around those laws and propagating the truly toxic messages through social media.
“Those lines probably need redrawing.”
Numerous ministers had expressed concern about some of the scenes over the weekend.
Home Office minister Robert Jenrick said chanting the word jihad on the streets of the capital is “inciting terrorist violence”, while Cabinet colleague Mark Harper said the footage from the weekend was “disturbing”.
But Number 10 signalled that there were no current plans to give the Met more powers.
“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.
The Government has not closed or addressed these gaps in the legislation that our report highlighted— Ex-commissioner for countering extremism Dame Sara Khan
“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.”
Former commissioner for countering extremism Dame Sara Khan was among those involved in the report that urged Government action on extremism.
“The Government has not closed or addressed these gaps in the legislation that our report highlighted,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“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.”
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer also urged ministers to look at addressing “gaps in the law” as he warned of a “huge increase” in hate crimes in recent weeks.
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.
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 Home Secretary and all of Government supports the police as they continue to enforce the law against anyone suspected of committing an offence, and will ensure the police have everything they need to maintain law and order— Home Office readout of meeting
A Home Office readout of the meeting said that Ms Braverman “recognised the complexities of the law in policing aspects of these protests and prosecutor decisions”.
“The Home Secretary and all of Government supports the police as they continue to enforce the law against anyone suspected of committing an offence, and will ensure the police have everything they need to maintain law and order.”
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 warned that “strong action” would be taken against anyone found breaking the law.
It comes as an investigation is also under way after footage showed a Tube driver leading a chant of “free Palestine” on the London Underground.
