Extremists have been encouraged, and those who fanned the flames shouldn’t absolve from responsibility
On what was supposed to be one of the largest pro-Palestine demonstrations, free of any violence or hatred, you’d think that it would be a possibility. And then you see a bunch of far-right extremists turn up and pick a fight with anyone who dares. But they didn’t do so on Armistice Day for no reason, they did it to “defend” the Cenotaph from *checks notes* the people who weren’t going to go there, with the route from Hyde Park to the American embassy proving exactly that.
Among the hooligans were former EDL leader and proud racist Tommy Robinson, who was among those encouraging the mobs to descend onto the streets of London via his recently-reinstated Twitter X account. He riled up his fans to come to the Cenotaph, not just for a two-minute silence which they “respected”, but also to reap havoc all in the name of “patriotism”, followed by him being escorted away in a rainbow-coloured taxi in Chinatown, even as the thuggery continued.
Away from the appalling scenes at Westminster, there was the biggest pro-Palestinian protest in recent weeks, with hundreds of thousands in attendance. Most of the calls were for a ceasefire, but there were disgusting displays of antisemitism — including pictures of a Star of David (a symbol of Judaism) being incorporated with a swastika (a symbol of Nazism) and chants of “death to all the Jews”, as if to intimidate a community which is in no way responsible for Israel’s actions in Gaza. Just designed to hate.
Extremists, whichever side they’re from, didn’t just invoke violence and hate out of the blue. Their intentions are to create divisions between Jewish and Muslim communities who are feeling raw pain from the sufferings in the Middle East. They were emboldened, encouraged even, by politicians who should understand nowadays that words bring actions and that actions bring consequences. I was at both sets of them and whilst I was safe, there were others getting caught up throughout.
Even though Suella Braverman tweeted out a condemnation of “violence and aggression from protesters and counter-protesters”, it should be taken into note the now-former home secretary’s role in all of this. In her Times column, she suggested that the Metropolitan police were ignoring “pro-Palestinian mobs” whilst remarking on how they deal with right-wing protests. It should also be noted of prime minister Rishi Sunak’s role in it, particularly his refusal to sack Braverman, afraid that he’ll cause a civil war within the Tory hard-right. As I write this, it’s been announced that Braverman was sacked as home secretary, with James Cleverly taking her role and former PM David Cameron taking his role as foreign secretary in a cabinet reshuffle I had said that there had been talks of.
Some sections of the media can’t just skate themselves out of responsibility as much as they can grovel. The Daily Mail put out a front page saying “Pray they don’t end up with a riot at the Cenotaph”. And what did we get? The very thing which the Mail prayed for not to happen.
There is a wide pattern in all of this: the people, whether in politics or the media, have helped put Britain in this position for years. Even though they didn’t tell them to do so, they encouraged the far-right and far-left to whip up disorder onto civilians, police officers and public spaces. And now, we’ve seen the same things again. The scourge of antisemitism, Islamophobia and white nationalism laced on is there for everyone to see. Everything else is all noise.
As anti-racists, we all have a duty and should remind ourselves of it: to be vigilant of hatred, to protect one another and restore tolerance. If this all goes out of control, remember the people who fanned the flames, and don’t let them get away with it.
This article was edited a few hours after changes were made in government as mentioned above.
