Israel-Gaza latest: Mark Rowley calls for ‘sharper’ clarity on extremism laws
Sir Mark Rowley has called for greater clarity from the government on laws policing extremism amid pro-Palestinian demonstrations in London.
The Metropolitan Police chief said about 100 people had been arrested at demonstrations since the Hamas attack on Israel three weeks ago, with “many more” arrests expected.
“There is scope to be much sharper in how we deal with extremism in this country,” he said.
“The law was never designed to deal with extremism, there’s a lot to do with terror and hate crime but we don’t have a body of law that deals with extremism, and that is creating a gap.”
It comes as the Sunday Telegraph reported communities secretary Michael Gove has asked officials to come up with a new definition of extremism in a bid to clamp down on hate incidents, while the Home Office is separately looking at changes to terror laws.
Rowley told Sky News he backed a review into the legal definition of extremism and how it could be policed, and that officers were limited as to what they were able to prosecute.
He said there had been a 14-fold increase in antisemitic incidents since the Israel-Gaza crisis began, and a three-fold increase in crimes against the Muslim community.
And he said that while “some of what goes on” at protests is found “upsetting and distasteful” by portions of the public, “there’s no point arresting hundreds of people if it’s not prosecutable”.
Protests on Saturday came as Israel intensified military action in Gaza with ground operations. Gaza has been bombarded by weeks of airstrikes, with Israel also cutting off water and electricity.
Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf, whose wife’s parents are trapped in Gaza after visiting relatives, expressed his relief at discovering they are alive and urged for a ceasefire.
He posted on X, formerly Twitter: “We heard from my in-laws in Gaza this morning, they are alive, thank God. However, they have run out of clean drinking water.”
Labour’s shadow foreign secretary David Lammy will embark on a three-day visit to the region today, where he will meet with the foreign ministers of Jordan, Qatar and Egypt.
He will continue to stress Labour’s calls for humanitarian pauses, immediate access for aid, and the need for a longer-term political process in support of a two-state solution.