The scenes of violence and hateful protest on our Armistice Day streets were sickening
THE scenes of violence and hateful protest on our Armistice Day streets were sickening.
For areas of our capital city to be effectively under siege, as 2,000 police officers battled to contain vast numbers of pro-Palestinian protesters and far-right thugs, was bad enough.
But for these disgraceful clashes to mar the day on which the nation solemnly remembers its war dead was horrible.
With predictable relish, loudmouth London Mayor Sadiq Khan was quick to blame Suella Braverman for inflaming the situation.
But this is to ignore some basic facts.
The organisers of this pro-Palestine march were repeatedly warned that while it was not illegal, it was certainly provocative, insulting and offensive to stage it this weekend.
They went ahead with their call for a “million march” in the full knowledge that it was likely to trigger a violent backlash from hate-filled yobs looking for trouble.
The same marches over the last four weeks have harboured extremists who spewed anti-Semitism, glorified jihad, terrified Jewish residents and callously tore down pictures of kidnapped children.
There were protesters who wore Hamas-style headbands. One carried a sign comparing Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu to Hitler.
This hate has no place on our streets on Remembrance weekend.
As veteran Sergeant-Major Jeff Williams says: “We fought for their right to protest, but on this precious day it just feels wrong.’’
Jeff was hoping to pay peaceful tribute to his fallen comrades, but was startled by moronic chants ringing out across Whitehall.
Our police and politicians have many tough questions to answer in the aftermath of this Armistice Day.
But one thing must be crystal clear.
There must never be a repeat of this insult to our war dead and the comrades paying their respects.
Rishi’s winflation
AMIDST the gloom of protests, bad opinion polls and a reshuffle, Rishi Sunak may soon find a ray of sunshine.
Next week’s inflation figures look set to show a drop of nearly two per cent, putting him on course to hit his target of halving the rate by the end of the year.
Good news is thin on the ground. So the PM must grab this opportunity and signal tax cuts at the first opportunity.