Sir Keir starmer addresses nation as stress mounts after Golders Green assault
The PM was questioned on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme about ‘tougher policing’ used on language at some pro-Palestinian marches, expressing concerns about the ‘cumulative’ effect of repeated marches
Sir Keir Starmer was quizzed on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme(Image: Getty Images)
Keir Starmer has raised the possibility he might ban some protesting, after calls for a suspension of pro-Palestinian marches.
It comes after the government’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, called for a “moratorium” on pro-Palestinian marches following the Golder’s Green attack last week. When questioned on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme about whether he wanted tougher policing on language used during marches, Sir Keir Starmer said: “I think certainly the first, and I think there are instances for the latter.”
The PM added he would defend people’s right to protest, but expressed concerns about the “cumulative” effect of repeated marches on the Jewish community.
Two Jewish men were stabbed in Golders Green, north London, on Wednesday. Essa Suleiman, 45, appeared in court on Friday charged with attempted murder over the attack.
Declared a terror incident by police, the attack was the latest in a string of violent incidents targeting Jewish people.
The government commissioned a review of public order and hate crime legislation last year, after two Jewish people were killed in an attack outside a synagogue in Manchester.
It was expected to report back in February but is yet to be published.
Earlier this week, Jonathan Hall, the government’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, said it was “clearly impossible at the moment” for the protests “not to incubate within them some sort of antisemitic or demonising language”.
In response to concerns about linking protests to attacks on Jews, Sir Keir said: “I will defend the right of peaceful protest very strongly and freedom of speech.”
He added: “I’m not saying, of course, that there aren’t very strong, legitimate views about the Middle East, about Gaza. We all have deep concerns about it.”
Hall’s demand for a suspension has faced criticism from the Stop the War Coalition, a campaign organisation that has helped coordinate numerous previous demonstrations.
The group stated it condemned “all forms of antisemitism and racism”, but argued it was “wrong” to link the marches to any attacks on Jews.
The Green Party and Jeremy Corbyn’s Your Party have also cautioned that the response to the “abhorrent” attacks should not curtail civil liberties.
Nevertheless, the Conservatives and Reform UK have urged the government to adopt a stricter stance towards the demonstrations.
Police forces across England and Wales can impose restrictions on protests under certain conditions, including by specifying a particular route or dictating when it must conclude.
They can seek to prohibit marches entirely where these powers are considered inadequate to prevent “serious public disorder”, but this requires the home secretary’s approval and is rarely employed.
Last month the government endorsed a request from the Metropolitan Police to prohibit the Al Quds Day march in London, representing the first occasion a protest march had been banned since 2012.
Meanwhile, Sir Keir described chants such as “globalise the intifada” – derived from an Arabic term for uprising – as “very dangerous” to the Jewish community and argued they should face prosecution.
“If you are on a march or a protest where people are chanting, ‘globalise the intifada’, you do have to stop and ask yourself, why am I not calling this out?” he stated.
“Why am I on a march where this is the chant?”
