Palestinian-supporting demonstrations labeled 'not in keeping with British values' after Manchester synagogue attack, British interior minister states
Media Agency
The Interior Minister voiced regret that pro-Palestinian protests proceeded on Thursday following the terror attack that took two lives outside a Jewish place of worship in the city of Manchester.
The home secretary also called on demonstrators to "step back" from intentions to stage protests in the next few days.
"I believe that continuing in this fashion seems contrary to British values, it feels misguided," she remarked about protests planned for this weekend.
Demonstrators in downtown London protesting the Israeli navy stopping a flotilla carrying humanitarian assistance to the Gaza Strip clashed with police officers outside Downing Street on Thursday night.
Substantial groups carrying Palestinian flags and placards could be spotted on Whitehall throughout the night.
The police force reported that 40 people had been taken into custody. A half-dozen of those apprehended were arrested for attacks against police officers.
"It's essential to establish separation between what is happening in the Middle Eastern region and situations developing at home," the minister remarked on a morning news program on Friday morning.
"I would say to people who are planning to go on a protest is to just take a step back for a short while, and consider if you had suffered the loss of a loved one to a terrorist incident in this nation," she added.
There were "substantial" powers to defend the freedom to demonstrate, she mentioned, but they could be overridden on the advice of the law enforcement.
"I can take my lead from the police, if they were to inform me there was an insufficient resources to handle and to control the demonstrations, then there are legal measures that are accessible," she elaborated.
Jewish community leaders voice concerns
The UK's senior rabbinical leader remarked that many people of the Jewish community wondered why marches in support of Palestinian advocacy groups had been permitted to proceed.
The organization was proscribed as a terrorist organisation in the summer. At multiple demonstrations since then, hundreds have been detained for expressing solidarity for the organization, which has obtained authorization to dispute the proscription.
"A portion of them include blatant anti-Jewish sentiment, outright support for Hamas. Not everyone involved, however there is a significant amount of these elements, which certainly is risky to many within our community," the religious leader stated.
"You cannot separate the speech on our public spaces, the behavior of individuals in this way, and what subsequently occurs, which was the recent terror incident."
He also urged the government "repeatedly", to "get a grip on these demonstrations, they are risky."