‘Mob rule is taking over’...PM orders police to use powers
POLICE forces risk losing public confidence unless they use the law to crack down on “mob rule”, Rishi Sunak warned yesterday.
The Prime Minister lashed out as threatening protests have surged around Parliament, MPs’ offices and council chambers.
Last week, pro-Palestine activists beamed “genocidal” phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” – widely seen as antisemitic – on to Big Ben.
The Metropolitan Police were accused of “normalising aggressive and offensive acts” by not being tough enough. Protesters also targeted Tory MP Tobias Ellwood at his Dorset home earlier this month.
At a Downing Street policing round-table yesterday, Mr Sunak told force chiefs: “There is a growing consensus that mob rule is replacing democratic rule. And we’ve got to collectively, all of us, change that urgently.
Values
“But we also need to demonstrate more broadly that you will use the powers you already have, the laws that you have.
“I am going to do whatever it requires to protect our democracy and our values we all hold dear.
“That is what the public expect. It is fundamental to our democratic system. And also it is vital for maintaining public confidence in the police.”
Mr Sunak said the new “democratic policing protocol”, which includes more cash to protect MPs, would make clear the “consistent and robust approach that your forces will take from now on to protect our democratic processes from intimidation, disruption, from subversion”.
He added: “We simply cannot allow this pattern of increasingly violent and intimidatory behaviour which is, as far as anyone can see, intended to shout down free debate and stop elected representatives doing their job.
“So it’s right that the protocol commits to additional patrols, provides clarity that protests at elected representatives’ homes should be treated as intimidatory.”
Ministers could also increase the amount of notice protest organisers must give. Demonstrations cost police forces £25million over just two months.
A Home Affairs Committee report said more than 4,000 officer rest days had been cancelled. The Met also said policing Middle East conflict demonstrations had led to “the greatest period of sustained pressure” on the force since the London 2012 Olympics.
The committee called it “worrying” that the Government’s plan to tackle hate crime had not been updated since 2020.
Committee chairwoman, Dame Diana Johnson, said: “It is deeply dispiriting to see the fight against hate crime get stuck in Home Office limbo.”
The Campaign Against Antisemitism claimed that the report failed to address the “increasingly urgent need to restore the confidence of the British public and ensure the safety of this country’s Jewish community”.