Home Secretary Suella Braverman has been accused of causing disorder in London with her controversial remarks regarding pro-Palestine protests.
The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf were among those criticising the minister.
The First Minister said Braverman "emboldened" the far right after so-called 'counter-protesters' clashed with police while making their way to the Cenotaph in Central London.
Suella Braverman told 'resign' after 'emboldening' the far right
The far-right has been emboldened by the Home Secretary. She has spent her week fanning the flames of division. They are now attacking the Police on Armistice Day.
— Humza Yousaf (@HumzaYousaf) November 11, 2023
The Home Secretary's position is untenable. She must resign. https://t.co/okPyA0MlpN
In a tweet, he said: “The far right has been emboldened by the Home Secretary. She has spent her week fanning the flames of division. They are now attacking the police on Armistice Day.
“The Home Secretary’s position is untenable. She must resign.”
Sadiq Khan was similarly scathing in his criticism of Suella Braverman, tweeting: “The scenes of disorder we witnessed by the far-right at the Cenotaph are a direct result of the Home Secretary’s words. The police’s job has been made much harder.
“The Met have my full support to take action against anyone found spreading hate and breaking the law.”
The scenes of disorder we witnessed by the far-right at the Cenotaph are a direct result of the Home Secretary’s words. The police's job has been made much harder.
— Sadiq Khan (@SadiqKhan) November 11, 2023
The Met have my full support to take action against anyone found spreading hate and breaking the law.
The Home Secretary previously attacked the decision by the Met Police to allow a pro-Palestine march to go ahead on Remembrance Day.
When Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley resisted pressure from senior Tories to ban the demonstration in the capital, Braverman accused the force of 'bias'.
She also referred to the protest, which is calling for a ceasefire in Israel's operations in the Gaza Strip, as a "hate march".
The right-wing protesters were reported to be chanting "England 'til I die" as they broke through police lines to 'defend the Cenotaph'.
This came after Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, the former co-leader of the English Defence League called on his supporters to mass around the capital.
However, police were able to detain a "large" group of these 'counter-protesters'.
We are reviewing footage & identifying those involved in earlier disorder within the group detained on Bridge Street.
— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) November 11, 2023
Those identified will be arrested & we will continue to use our powers under S60 & S60AA of the Public Order Act, to search for weapons & remove face coverings. pic.twitter.com/MoyREYHkTD
The Met tweeted: "We are reviewing footage & identifying those involved in earlier disorder within the group detained on Bridge Street.
"Those identified will be arrested & we will continue to use our powers under S60 & S60AA of the Public Order Act, to search for weapons & remove face coverings."
Speaking of the ongoing pro-Palestine protest, the Met added: "There have been no incidents related to this protest so far."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article