Police ‘should have halted Gaza protest’ outside Ellwood’s house
THE Prime Minister’s official adviser on political violence has condemned the “troubling” decision by a police force not to break up a protest outside a Tory MP’S family home.
Lord Walney said activists who target politicians at their private residences should face “consequences” after Dorset Police refused to disperse a pro-palestine gathering at the home of Tobias Ellwood on Monday.
Officers were summoned after about 80 people lined the street outside the home of the former Armed Forces minister for several hours. Some were holding banners that him of being “complicit in genocide” over the conflict in Gaza.
No arrests were made and the Bournemouth East MP recalled being told by a policeman that the group was not ordered to disband because doing so would “simply inflame the situation”.
Writing on social media Lord Walney said: “Tobias Ellwood reports that the police didn’t tell the mob outside his home to disperse to avoid inflaming the situation. That’s troubling.
“Protests at homes must not be normalised and activists need to know there will be consequences if they seek to intimidate MPS.”
The peer expressed “huge sympathy for him and his family” and said he had a “different opinion” about how the gathering was handled to Mr Ellwood, who insisted on Wednesday he “cannot fault” the police response.
Monday’s protest was the latest example of politicians being targeted in relation to the ongoing Israel-gaza conflict. Craig Williams, Rishi Sunak’s parliamentary aide, has been repeatedly confronted at events in his Welsh constituency by demonstrators chanting “blood on his hands”.
Mike Freer, a justice minister, has confirmed he will quit frontline politics at the next election after receiving death threats and abuse over his pro-israel stance.
Mr Ellwood said the protesters had been “completely naive” to target him as he had criticised the scale of the Israeli military response to the Oct 7 attacks as well as condemning Hamas.
A Dorset Police spokesman said its officers “were in contact with Mr Ellwood throughout to ensure the safety of him and his family”, adding: “We respect people’s right to lawful protest.”
James Cleverly, the Home Secretary, branded the behaviour of those who targeted Mr Ellwood’s home “wrong and undemocratic” and said he and Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons Speaker, kept security measures to protect MPS “under constant review”.
A Home Office spokesman said: “No politician should face violence or intimidation because of a decision they have made as a democratically elected MP.”