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Video: ‘Jihad’ chants at pro-Palestinian protest in London amid Israel-Hamas war
Israel-Hamas War: Immigration minister Robert Jenrick said that the issue was an operational matter for the Metropolitan Police and Crown Prosecution Service.
As fears mounted of a wider conflagration in the Middle East following Hamas' attack on Israel earlier this month marking the worst attack on civilians in Israel's history, pro-Palestinian protests were seen across London which ended in at least 10 arrests. A British government minister condemned as "completely reprehensible" the chanting of "jihad" on the streets of London during pro-Palestinian protests across the UK capital. Immigration minister Robert Jenrick said that the issue was an operational matter for the Metropolitan Police and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
"Chanting jihad on the streets of London is completely reprehensible and I never want to see scenes like that,” Robert Jenrick said, adding, “It is inciting terrorist violence and it needs to be tackled with the full force of the law. Ultimately, it's an operational matter for the police and the CPS whether to press charges… There have been arrests under terrorist legislation. And we want to do everything that we can to protect British Jews.”
The UK minister said that beyond legality, the issue highlighted a broader question about values.
"And there should be a consensus in this country that chanting things like jihad is completely reprehensible and wrong and we don't ever want to see that in our country,” he added.
In a statement issued by the Met Police, it said that there had been "pockets of disorder and some instances of hate speech" during the demonstrations as officers had also reviewed a video from a Hizb ut-Tahrir protest 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.
Meanwhile, British Transport Police (BTP) said investigations are ongoing after a video of a London Tube train driver leading a “Free Palestine” chant was shared across social media.
"BTP are aware of footage circulating on social media which suggests chants were led by driver of a train in London earlier. BTP are working with Transport for London and investigating the matter," said BTP assistant chief constable Sean O'Callaghan.
