Tommy Robinson arrested. Police using their existing powers

No matter if you don’t like him or not he was marching with everyone else. Maybe he had a reason but it’s not against the law to march is it. But then it depends what side you are on and what flag you want to wave. Would have liked the police to show what they paid for over the last few weekends and not just saying we are watching videos. Why should everyone else have a fear of going into the city’s on a weekend it’s looking very one sided. I’m not a fan of Tommy but we can’t have ppl shouting death to the Jews neither and not arrest at the same time. That’s double standards

I agree withh Granny Gravy. Some of the extremr Palestines act racist when marching with their banners and chanting,but they never get arrested. We have to watch what we say now as we are all being called extreme Right Wing to to have our own opinions. A lot of what Tommy Robinson has said in the past has been the truth.

Absolutely fine with the arrest of TM but concerned the police do not seem to be always applying the same rules to everybody. Always easy to blame the police but what a job they have to do nowadays!

GrannyGravy13

BlueBelle

I disagree with GG and Annie the man should not be walking around a free man he should be behind bars
Him and his ilk are what’s making this country such a nasty place
Good for the Met

You have missed the point, I neither like or admire him, but I am concerned that its possible to be arrested (not charged) for one’s political views l.

he is not being arrested for his views. He was issued with a dispersal order because of his previous behaviour and was arrested because he didn't not comply withthe dispersal order.

I’m no fan but he should be treated the same as everyone else. Some pure racists and antisemites were on the other marches and called distress to people attending Remembrance Sunday events

Flags aren’t the problem, banners with antisemitic pictures or antisemitic phrases are the problem.

I have no doubt that the police photographers were in action for both the prop Palestine and the anti semitism marches. After all there were helicopters overhead.

And I also have no doubt that some police, somewhere ill be sifting through all those photos in order to idenity trouble makers.

I just searched on Google images for "london march hamas flag". The Telegraph came up with a couple of images of a black "jihadist" flag, but I couldn't see any green Hamas flags (they're probably there somewhere, but not very visible). On the other hand there are hundreds (if not thousands) of Palestinian flags.

Callistemon I think most people who have watched the news since 7/10 know the difference between the Hamas flag and the Palestinian flag.

Paddyann54 will take any small opportunity to use shouty capitals and educate us

We know what the Palestinian flag looks like.
Black, white and green horizontal stripes with a red triangle.

Not all are flying that flag, some are flying the Hamas flag.

its NOT Hamas' flag its Palestines .The Palestinian people are not terrorists ...no more than Israeli's who have burned people out of their homes or demolished their home in front of the people who have owned it for centuries or the IDF ...dont they shoot KIDS WHO THROW STONES?
There are massive problems from BOTH sides

I'm not sure what people expect the police to do. If they had gone into the crowd to arrest those who were clearly breaking the law by being provacative many people could have been hurt. Most of the protesters were marching peacefully and they would have been caught up in what would have been a battle if the police had gone in.
We don't know that the police are not keeping a close eye on those who are shouting "jihad" or know who they are.

One of the best-know hate preachers is currently facing charges. I'm not going to say too much about it because a warning has been issued not to discuss the proceedings in case it prejudices the trial.

If that person had announced on X (or elsewhere) that he was going to turn up at any of the marches, I would expect some kind of ban to be issued and enforced.

From what I've read, I understand that some of the people from the pro-Palestinian marches have been identified and are being investigated. The police couldn't have know who they were in advance. To be honest, I was quite surprised that there wasn't more trouble during those marches and I think the police handled them quite well. If they'd arrested dozens of people on the spot, I expect that there would have been a backlash which would have been far more difficult to manage.

I agree with you GrannyGravy. I have no problem re Tommy Robinson being removed or arrested yesterday, but I do have a problem with people waving blatantly anti semitic banners or chanting antisemitic slogans (From the River to the Sea…..) and being left in place, thereby it is accepted and condoned.
I’ve also thought that Islamic hate preachers should have been dealt with immediately upon putting out their hate filled bile. Instead it was tolerated for far too long. Like the antisemitic banners are being tolerated now, and so becoming acceptable apparently.

Freya5

Deedaa

Yaxley Lennon should remember that in the USA refusing to comply can get you shot. He's lucky to be living in a country where he can still walk the streets spreading his poisonous views. No doubt we shall here a lot about his "victimisation"

Would you say the same re religious hate preachers, or just Tommy Robinson.

Yes, I would say the same. Tommy Robinson knew before the march that he wasn't wanted by the organisers and that a dispersal notice would be issued if he tried to enter the area. He ignored it, knowing very well what the outcome would be and that his supporters would see him as a "victim". He wouldn't have been arrested, if he'd complied with the notice.

If a dispersal notice were to be issued for a named "hate preacher", I would expect the same outcome.

if there were to be a riot the police would attend depending on number involved

Freya5 I think the Met have got themselves in rather a pickle regarding who they arrest on the pro Palestine marches. The excuse that they are outnumbered doesn’t hold much water with me.

I am not a fan of Yaxley-Lennon /Tommy Robinson but it does appear he was easy to arrest whereas hate preachers, Hamas flag wavers and antisemitic chanters seem to be more problematic for the police to arrest.

This is leading to what some are calling two tier policing which is not good optics for the U.K. police force.

Deedaa

Yaxley Lennon should remember that in the USA refusing to comply can get you shot. He's lucky to be living in a country where he can still walk the streets spreading his poisonous views. No doubt we shall here a lot about his "victimisation"

Would you say the same re religious hate preachers, or just Tommy Robinson.

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

The Met got something right. Well done.

growstuff thank you for the information about where the Tommy Robinson story was reported. I wasn’t doubting it, I just hadn’t seen any news as we’d been travelling all day and we had just arrived at our hotel where I was catching up with Gransnet.

Can anyone name a single person at any of the pro Palestinian marches that had these characteristics but was allowed to stay to cause trouble?

Unless one personally knew someone who was going on a pro Palestinian march, then of course no one could name any of the marches. It seems to have eluded you that Tommy Robinson is well known and has been well known for years by most people in the UK. Consequently his activities are widely reported in the media. Additionally he apparently announces his intentions on Twitter, not that I follow him , I don’t do Twitter and don’t intend to do so in the future.

Some apples and pears comparison going on here. TM founded the EDL which was closely associated with the BNP. He put a msg out to his followers prior to Armistice Day which resulted in chaos and violence at the cenotaph. He was issued with a legally obtained dispersal because his presence was not wanted at Saturday's Anti semitism march which he ignored so he was arrested. Can anyone name a single person at any of the pro Palestine marches that had these characteristics but was allowed to stay to cause trouble. Did the police know who was intending to show Anti semitic behaviour? I don't think so. Behaviour like that erupted in pockets of otherwise peaceful protesters which is difficult to deal with at the time. It's fine to criticise the police but at least do it fairly.

Tommy Robinson said he was doing his job as a journalist on the news. He was there to cause a fracas and the organisers did not want to be associated with him and his cronies.i agree that the Police allowed too much lenience to some hateful remarks on the pro Palestinian March but quite frankly they were outnumbered and would find it more difficult to intervene.

GrannyGravy13

As much as I dislike the man I am rather concerned that the Met is picking and choosing who they arrest in a disjointed fashion.

The Met stood by late yesterday as pro Palestinian protesters let off flares and fireworks in central London whilst chanting for Jihad and death to all Jews(source multiple high profile Jewish folks social media posts and videos). That was definitely anti social behaviour.

I am concerned that it’s possible to be arrested for your political stance.

Take your point.

But, after Robinson posted on X to his nearly 400,000 followers earlier this month. “Everyone should attend this and let British Jews know they are not alone.”

... the march organisers, the CAA, responded:

“No thanks. The drunken far-right thugs who came to ‘protect the cenotaph’ on Armistice Day, some of whom shouted ‘Sieg Heil’ or hospitalised police officers, are most definitely not welcome.”

I believe the police really had little choice. Especially taking into consideration how Robinson's thugs behaved on Armistice Day.

If the force believe there is going to be trouble, a breach of the peace, I think they are allowed to make that judgment.

And to claim, as he did / does, that he's a "journalist" (he 'self-identifies' as one) is - as Ian Murray, executive director of the Society of Editors says, "a dangerous distortion of the truth".

But, it's worrying that the pro-Palestinian marchers - or some of them, anyway - appear to be getting away with letting of flares and shouting for "jihad". I wonder if they will be identified and charged at a later date?

If they'd dived into the crows to make arrests - there might have been the same scuffles and scenes we saw with Robinson?