Now Braverman praises ‘courageous’ police – however says ‘streets are being polluted by hate’

Suella Braverman has doubled down on her assaults on pro-Palestine protesters, claiming the streets of London are “polluted by hate, violence, and antisemitism”.

The house secretary condemned violence towards police on Armistice Day as “outrageous”, regardless of having been blamed for whipping up the far-right mob that descended on London on Saturday.

She refused to again down on her criticism of protesters, attacking what she known as “sick, inflammatory and, in some circumstances, clearly felony chants” on the pro-Palestine march, including: “This will’t go on.”

However she backtracked on her accusations of police bias to thank the “courageous” officers who confronted violence on Saturday – with out acknowledging that the overwhelming majority of the 145 arrests have been of far-right activists.

“Members of the general public are being mobbed and intimidated. Jewish folks specifically really feel threatened. Additional motion is critical,” Ms Braverman wrote in an announcement on X, previously Twitter.

Her dramatic U-turn on reward for police got here days after she accused Scotland Yard of “taking part in favourites” by failing to ban the rally.

The under-fire house secretary was repeatedly warned she risked inflaming tensions and undermining the police along with her feedback, and on Saturday evening Met assistant commissioner Matt Twist stated her feedback had “elevated neighborhood tensions” and contributed to the violence.

In an announcement on Sunday evening, Ms Braverman praised police for working “within the face of violence and aggression from protesters and counter-protesters in London yesterday”, including that the 9 officers injured within the line of responsibility was an “outrage”.

Her feedback got here hours after Rishi Sunak was attacked for his “surprising” failure to thank officers for his or her work defending the Cenotaph and making certain demonstrations may go forward safely on Armistice Day.

Shadow house secretary Yvette Cooper stated it was “actually vital” the prime minister thanked officers, who had missiles thrown at them in a sequence of violent clashes with demonstrators linked to the English Defence League and different right-wing teams.

In assertion issued after the protests, Mr Sunak condemned “violent, wholly unacceptable scenes from the EDL and related teams”.

He additionally criticised “Hamas sympathisers” on the pro-Palestine march and stated “the despicable actions of a minority of individuals undermine those that have chosen to precise their views peacefully”. However he didn’t thank the police.

Requested about it on Sky Information on Sunday, Ms Cooper stated: “To be trustworthy I used to be simply shocked that there wasn’t a phrase of thanks for the police within the assertion.

“We noticed police underneath assault, having missiles thrown at them and having to take care of folks making an attempt to climb over fences, [and] climbing onto partitions to try to get to the Cenotaph.

“The police made positive that they didn’t and we must always thank them for that.”

Ms Cooper pointed to the incendiary article by the house secretary final week wherein she claimed officers “play favourites” in the direction of pro-Palestinian protesters.

The shadow house secretary stated Ms Braverman’s feedback have been “appalling and unprecedented”.

“I’ve by no means seen any house secretary do what Suella Braverman did, and there may be good purpose for that – the occasions that we noticed yesterday across the Armistice.”

Requested about Mr Sunak’s failure to thank the police for shielding the Cenotaph, defence secretary Grant Shapps accused critics of “poring over each single phrase”.

“In fact the prime minister is grateful to the police, all of us are … it goes nearly with out saying however I’m positive he’ll say it in particular person,” Mr Shapps stated.

Assistant commissioner Twist stated on Saturday that counter-demonstrators had arrived within the capital early and “appeared intent on confrontation and intent on violence”.

“There are a variety of teams inside this counter-protest who’re break up off and appear intent on in search of confrontation with the primary Palestinian march, and the policing operation in the mean time is being efficient in stopping that taking place,” he stated.

The drive condemned the violence confronted by officers as they tried to forestall disruption to a Remembrance occasion on the Cenotaph later within the afternoon.