Pro-Palestinian protests described as 'un-British' following Manchester terror incident, British interior minister states
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The Interior Minister conveyed regret that Palestinian-supporting protests continued on Thursday evening following the terror attack that took two lives near a Jewish place of worship in the city of Manchester.
Britain's top security official also urged demonstrators to "step back" from plans to hold protests in the next few days.
"In my view that proceeding in this fashion does feel contrary to British values, it seems misguided," she remarked about demonstrations scheduled for this week.
Protesters in central London protesting the Israel's naval forces stopping a flotilla carrying humanitarian assistance to the Gaza Strip had confrontations with police officers outside Downing Street on Thursday night.
Substantial groups holding Palestinian flags and signs could be observed on the government district into the evening.
The Metropolitan Police announced that 40 people had been arrested. A half-dozen of those arrested were detained over attacks against police officers.
"It's essential to establish separation between events unfolding in the Middle Eastern region and what is happening at in our country," the minister remarked on a breakfast show on Friday morning.
"I would say to individuals who are planning to join a protest is to reconsider briefly for a moment, and imagine if you had suffered the loss of a family member to a terrorist incident in this nation," she added.
There were "strong" measures to defend the freedom to protest, she mentioned, but they could be superseded on the recommendation of the law enforcement.
"I can follow guidance from the police, if they were to advise me there was an lack of capacity to handle and to police the demonstrations, then there are authorities that are available," she clarified.
Community leaders voice concerns
Britain's Chief Rabbi stated that many members of the Jewish population questioned why protests in support of Palestinian causes had been allowed to occur.
The movement was banned as a terror group in the summer. At various protests after that, hundreds have been taken into custody for expressing solidarity for the organization, which has secured authorization to contest the proscription.
"Some of them contain outright anti-Jewish sentiment, outright support for the militant group. Not every single person, however there is considerable of this, which undoubtedly represents risky to many within our society," the chief rabbi remarked.
"You cannot separate the words on our public spaces, the behavior of individuals in this manner, and what subsequently occurs, which was yesterday's terrorist attack."
He also appealed to the government "once more", to "get a grip on these protests, they are dangerous."