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Two arrested after calling for ‘intifada’ after huge police warning | Politics | News

Two people have been arrested after shouting slogans calling for “intifada”, the Metropolitan Police said.

The arrests were made during a protest by pro-Palestinian demonstrators outside the Ministry of Justice in Westminster on Wednesday evening.

A third person was arrested for “obstructing” police as they made the first two arrests for the chanting.

Sir Mark Rowley, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, and Stephen Watson, the Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, had earlier on Wednesday warned “words and chants” have “real world consequences”.

They warned, in a rare joint letter, that prosecutors have repeatedly claimed many phrases “causing fear in Jewish communities don’t meet prosecution thresholds”.

The Bondi Beach atrocity, in which two Islamist terrorists targeted a Hanukkah celebration and killed 15 people, has prompted renewed anger over chants on pro-Palestine marches and the fear, hatred and vitriol they create.

Sir Mark and Mr Watson said: “The two recent terror attacks targeting Jews, the increased fear in Jewish communities, and high number of terrorist attacks disrupted in recent years requires an enhanced response.

“We know communities are concerned about placards and chants such as ‘globalise the intifada’ and those using it at future protest or in a targeted way should expect the Met and GMP to take action.

“Current laws are inadequate, and we welcome the fact that the Home Secretary has asked Lord Ken Macdonald KC to review the current public order and hate crime legislation.

“The words and chants used, especially in protests, matter and have real world consequences.

“We have consistently been advised by the CPS that many of the phrases causing fear in Jewish communities don’t meet prosecution thresholds.

“Now, in the escalating threat context, we will recalibrate to be more assertive.”

Surviving suspect Naveed Akram, 24, has been charged with 15 counts of murder and committing a terrorist attack following the massacre on Sunday.

Akram and his father Sajid, 50, are accused of opening fire on crowds of more than 1,000 people as they celebrated Hanukkah in the Archer Park area of Bondi Beach on Sunday evening.

Sir Ephraim, who is travelling to Australia in his role as Chief Rabbi to the Commonwealth, told the Press Association: “We have seen on a weekly basis people out in the streets of cities in our country crying slogans which incite hatred – ‘from the river to the sea’, ‘globalise the intifada’.

“What does ‘globalise the intifada’ mean? Well, on Yom Kippur at the Heaton Park Synagogue in Manchester, we discovered what it means. On Bondi Beach, Australians discovered what is meant by those words.

“And the time has come for us to make it absolutely clear that such speech is unlawful. It’s not going to be accepted. It’s gone on for far too long. So much of hate speech has the potential to become translated into hate action.”

Sir Keir Starmer and senior ministers have said protesters’ slogans such as “globalise the intifada” and “from the river to the sea” amount to a call for attacks on Jewish people.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “There is no other interpretation of the demand to internationalise the intifada than as a call to attack Jewish communities around the world.”


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