November 13, 2023, 5:41 am ET
November 13, 2023, 5:41 a.m. Pro-Palestinian ETA demonstration in London on Saturday.Credit: Alberto Pezzali/Associated Press
Suella Braverman, who was sacked from her post as Britain’s home secretary on Monday, has long been a divisive figure at the heart of the ruling Conservative Party, whose provocative rhetoric won her the support of the far right while angering more moderate colleagues.
Her dismissal by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Monday follows the publication of an extraordinary opinion piece in The Times of London in which Ms Braverman rebuked the city’s main police force for its decision to stage a pro-Palestinian protest march that coincided with Armistice Day. not to be banned. when Britain remembers those who fought in the First World War and the conflicts that followed.
Ms Braverman – who as home secretary was responsible for law enforcement, immigration and national security – also described the tens of thousands of people who took part in regular Saturday protests in London in support of Palestinians as “hate marchers” and “mobs”. although the demonstrations were largely peaceful.
Downing Street said it had not approved the article as usual, and it emerged several changes requested by the Prime Minister’s Office had not been made before publication.
On Saturday, critics including Labor Mayor of London Sadiq Khan accused Ms Braverman of encouraging the counter-protest in which some right-wingers broke through a police line and claimed they were on the streets to defend a war memorial. Police said around 145 people were arrested on Saturday, the vast majority of them counter-demonstrators, and nine officers were injured.
In her article, Ms Braverman claimed that the demonstrations were not “just a cry for help for Gaza” but “an assertion of the primacy of certain groups – particularly Islamists – of the kind we are more used to in Northern Ireland”.
This reference to Northern Ireland, which rhetorically exploited sectarian tensions in a region where efforts to restore a power-sharing government have so far failed, also sparked anger.
In the article, Ms. Braverman accused police of a “double standard” in the way they handled protests. “Right-wing and nationalist protesters who engage in aggression are rightly met with a strong response, but pro-Palestinian mobs that engage in nearly identical behavior are largely ignored, even when they clearly violate the law,” wrote she.
Ms Braverman had made it clear that she wanted to ban the march on Saturday 11 November partly because it would coincide with Armistice Day. Mr Sunak took the same view, but last Wednesday received assurances from police that all possible steps would be taken to prevent unrest and issued a statement confirming the protest would go ahead and promising “our… Principles of the right to remain faithful”. peaceful protest.
Ms. Braverman’s article, published a few hours later, appeared to undermine his stance.
Ms Braverman, who ran unsuccessfully for the leadership of the Conservative Party last year, has long used far-right phrases in her statements and interviews, describing migration as a “hurricane” and the arrival of asylum seekers on British shores in small boats as a “hurricane”. “Invasion” and homelessness as a “lifestyle choice.” It recently proposed imposing restrictions on charities offering tents to people living on the streets.
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