Take on hate-filled mobs, before it’s too late

The Government has to go much further to stop the glorification of Islamist terror on British streets

Masked men delighting in “jihad”, thugs punching and kicking poppy sellers, and gruesome terror attacks celebrated by thousands. For months our streets have become festivals of extremism, vitriol and, in the worst cases, violence.

I know I am far from alone in wanting to live in a Britain where we are proud of our nation, united in our shared values, and respectful of our differences. Where hatred and division are confined to isolated incidents and where those who share our values feel welcome. A country, generally speaking, at peace with herself.

Instead, our country has become unrecognisable. We’ve become accustomed to hundreds of thousands of people regularly taking to our streets to glory in the murder of innocent men, women and children – one of the most barbaric terror attacks the world has seen. Demonising Israel and Jews with racist slogans and bile. They defile our monuments and despise our country. Flares and fireworks are used as weapons. In some cases, it’s organised by those with links to Hamas. Tolerated by the police, enabled by the authorities and, simply put, a disgrace.

As home secretary, I made no secret of my disgust at these hateful marches and urged the police to do more. In my opinion, the Metropolitan Police made the wrong decision when they refused to ban the march on Armistice Day and yet I was powerless in law to do anything about it.

I, and others, made clear to police chiefs that “from the river to sea” – a call for the elimination of Israel and her seven million Jews – is an anti-semitic chant, but no arrests were made. I probed as to why they justified the chanting of jihad as “an exercise in theological struggle” rather than a call to arms. I was alarmed when the Met had to apologise for taking advice during the protests from an extremist at the highest levels in the force. Why are you just watching, I would ask them?

There is a way out of this mess. I’m pleased that the Government is finally acting and introducing some of the changes I set in train in October, such as proscribing Hizb ut-tahrir. I also read reports that face coverings will be banned during protests and a specific offence to stop the desecration of war memorials will be introduced.

But we must go further if we are serious. Firstly, we need new laws to address the phenomenon of mass extremism on our streets. The bar is set too high, so prosecutions are typically not sought. In order to charge, the police and CPS need to prove “incitement” or “encouragement” of terrorism, specifically. Not so easy when you’re dealing with lawyered-up groups who know how to operate just beneath the threshold, but in a threatening and odious way nonetheless. So we need to change the Terrorism Act 2000 to better capture those cheerleaders of terrorism. Surely any expression of support of terrorism, whether it galvanises emulation or not, should have no place in our society?

Secondly, the Government should legislate to introduce an amendable list of conduct that constitutes “threatening, abusive or insulting” behaviour as required under the Public Order Acts. This would help the police and prosecutors understand what Parliament deems unacceptable conduct. This would include examples such as Nazi/holocaust imagery, “from the river”, “with soul, with blood, we will return to Al Aqsa”, and “Khaybar Khaybar” chanting, jihad and intifada rhetoric, and the “one-fingered” salute of Isis.

Next, the law is very clear about proscribing terrorist groups. But less so on groups of “extremist concern”, which may not be involved in terrorism but which cause significant damage to our communities and disrupt public order. There needs to be a new category that can catch groups such as Palestine Action, Friends of Al Aqsa or the Palestinian Forum in Britain.

And lastly, we need a law that enables the home secretary to prevent a protest from going ahead. Ministers are powerless while the police are the ones who technically possess the legal power to initiate a ban of a march. This doesn’t strike the right balance and so a power should be taken, as in France, to enable ministers to make the decision when it is believed violence may occur or a protest is causing undue distress to a community.

I will fiercely defend the right to peaceful protest in a democratic society. But these marches are not about peace; they are outpourings of vicious bigotry. This cannot be our new norm. We need leadership to unequivocally condemn Islamism and anti-semitism on our streets. To reassert what Britain means to the world: civility, tolerance, and order.

Above all, we need to find our backbone. Hatred must fail. We need to stand up and take on the mob. We need to win this fight and reclaim our streets. If we don’t, we could find ourselves living in a very different country.