That Pro-Palestine activists again intend to target Armistice Day events comes as little surprise.
Last year’s Remembrance events were held amidst an atmosphere of confrontation.
Pro-Palestine groups and Hamas apologists held demonstrations in the hours before the two minutes silence at 11 o’clock.
Far-Right groups gathered in London to ‘protect the Cenotaph’ and subsequently engaged in pitched battles with police officers.
The disorder in the Capital overshadowed the solemnity of last year’s 11th November events.
That these individuals choose to disrupt the most sacred date in our national calendar demonstrates their grotesque disdain for those who gave the ultimate sacrifice on our behalf.
It is an example of just how far from the political mainstream they are.
The record of the police and Crown Prosecution Service over the anti-Israeli protests over the last thirteen months has been desperately disappointing, to say the least.
Men have chanted on the streets of London for there to be ‘jihad’.
Thousands have marched through our towns and cities shouting racist slogans.
Members of Parliament have been subjected to intimidation outside their home addresses and their surgeries. All too common has been an insufficiency of police action.
As demonstrated by Policy Exchange’s recent report into protest, the public support the forces of law and order to take the action necessary to put a stop to this disruption.
Polling shows that an overwhelming majority of the public believe that the police should intervene if protestors are shouting or threatening passers-by or deliberately blocking the road or public transport network.
The disruptive and criminal activists who threaten the solemnity of our Remembrance events have rightly earned the contempt of the country’s law-abiding majority.
The public will support and indeed expects the police and prosecutors to use the law to its maximum extent.
Organisers who have crossed the line should be arrested on suspicion of a conspiracy to commit criminal offences.
Last year the police implored protest organisers not to go ahead with their demonstrations – to no avail.
This year there can be no acquiescence. The forces of law and order have one chance to get this right – they must not fail for a second year in a row.
David Spencer is Head of Crime and Justice at Policy Exchange
