{"id":1275,"date":"2023-11-09T05:30:15","date_gmt":"2023-11-09T05:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/london-gaza-rally-braverman-accuses-met-of-bias-over-gaza-marches\/"},"modified":"2023-11-09T05:30:15","modified_gmt":"2023-11-09T05:30:15","slug":"london-gaza-rally-braverman-accuses-met-of-bias-over-gaza-marches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/london-gaza-rally-braverman-accuses-met-of-bias-over-gaza-marches\/","title":{"rendered":"London Gaza rally: Braverman accuses Met of bias over Gaza marches"},"content":{"rendered":"

London Gaza rally: Braverman accuses Met of bias over Gaza marches<\/p>\n

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By Christy Cooney and Ione Wells, political correspondent<\/div>\n
BBC News<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Home Secretary Suella Braverman has accused the Metropolitan Police of “playing favourites” over its handling of pro-Palestinian protests.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Writing in The Times, she said right-wing protests that became aggressive were often stopped, while “pro-Palestinian mobs” were permitted.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The Met has said there are no grounds to ban a march set to take place amid remembrance commemorations on Saturday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Mrs Braverman’s article has drawn widespread criticism.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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For Labour, shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper described it as a “dangerous attempt to undermine respect for police”, while London mayor Sadiq Khan said it was “irresponsible”. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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One senior Conservative figure told the BBC’s Chris Mason the comments were “unhinged”. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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London’s police force has faced increasing pressure to prevent Saturday’s march from going ahead, but Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has said it may only be stopped if there is a threat of serious disorder, and that the “very high threshold” has not been reached.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Mrs Braverman said the pro-Palestinian marches, which began last month amid the siege of Gaza, had been “problematic” because of “violence around the fringes” as well as “highly offensive” chants, posters and stickers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“Unfortunately, there is a perception that senior police officers play favourites when it comes to protesters,” she said. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“Right-wing and nationalist protesters who engage in aggression are rightly met with a stern response yet pro-Palestinian mobs displaying almost identical behaviour are largely ignored, even when clearly breaking the law.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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She added that she believed the marches were not “merely a cry for help for Gaza”, but an “assertion of primacy by certain groups – particularly Islamists – of the kind we are more used to seeing in Northern Ireland”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A source close to the home secretary told the BBC the comment was a reference to the activities of “dissident republicans”. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Responding to the article, one Conservative Party source called the comparison with Northern Ireland “wholly offensive and ignorant”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In a statement posted on social media, Mrs Cooper accused Mrs Braverman of trying to “rip up [the] operational independence” of the police and “inflame community tensions”. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“She’s deliberately seeking to stir up political division around Remembrance Day, a moment when the whole country can come together to pay our respects for sacrifices of the past,” she said. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“No other Home Secretary of any party would ever do this.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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