London: UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman is to question the Metropolitan Police chief during a pre-planned meeting on Monday after the force declared that no offences were committed when a protester chanted “jihad” during a pro-Palestinian protest here over the weekend.
The Indian-origin minister's intervention follows one of her departments' ministers, Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick, condemning such chants as “completely reprehensible” on UK streets.
The Met Police had said that officers had reviewed a video from a Hizb ut-Tahrir protest in London on Saturday in which a man can be seen chanting “jihad, jihad”.
“The word has a number of meanings but we know the public will most commonly associate it with terrorism. Specialist officers have assessed the video and have not identified any offences arising from the specific clip,” the Met Police said.
“However, recognising the way language like this will be interpreted by the public and the divisive impact it will have, officers identified the man involved and spoke to him to discourage any repeat of similar chanting,” the statement said.
UK media reports quoted sources close to Ms Braverman as saying that she intends to discuss the matter directly with Sir Mark Rowley, Met Police Commissioner, to stress that there can be no place for incitement to hatred or violence on UK streets and police should crack down on anyone breaking the law.
Opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer has called on the government to look at "gaps in the law" so stronger action can be taken in the future.
"There's been a huge increase in hate crime in the last couple of weeks, tragically. We've all got a duty to clamp down on hate crimes whatever political party we're in. Obviously, the police are independent operationally, so these are decisions for them,” said Starmer.
"I think there have already been identified some gaps in the law in a previous review under this government and I think the government needs to look at whether there are gaps in the law that need to be addressed as well," he said.
A Downing Street spokesperson dismissed any immediate plans to make any legislative changes to help police further crackdown on protests in the context of the Israel-Gaza conflict.
The Met Police estimated that up to 100,000 people gathered in central London on Saturday to show solidarity with Palestinian civilians.
More than 1,000 officers were involved in policing the demonstration near Downing Street and 10 people were arrested linked to charges of possession of fireworks, public order and assaulting an emergency service worker.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)