AhlulBayt News Agency: The UK government is preparing to expand police powers to restrict chants and slogans at pro-Palestine demonstrations.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer stated that new measures being developed by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood will take into account the “cumulative impact” of protests and may go beyond what was initially proposed.
Starmer referred to Mahmood’s earlier announcement that repeated protests in London and other cities would face restrictions due to the “considerable fear” they allegedly cause within Britain’s Jewish community.
His comments came shortly after students across the UK defied his appeals and organized large pro-Gaza rallies on university campuses, marking the second anniversary of Israel’s war on Gaza.
The protests expressed solidarity with Palestinians and supported Palestine Action — a group Starmer had urged to cancel its demonstrations following a deadly attack at a Manchester synagogue that left two people dead.
Starmer labeled the protests as “un-British,” accusing them of showing “a lack of respect” and claiming that some participants have used them as “a despicable excuse to attack British Jews.”
Civil liberties advocates and free speech organizations have condemned the proposed measures, warning that they would infringe on basic rights and criminalize legitimate political expression.
Pro-Israel groups in the UK have pushed for stricter controls, arguing that certain slogans heard at rallies — such as “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” — are antisemitic.
Protesters and their supporters counter that the chant advocates for justice and freedom for Palestinians and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
Several European governments, including Germany, have recently cracked down on anti-Israel protests, often citing antisemitism or terrorism without clear evidence.
Critics argue that such repression is unjustified, emphasizing that pro-Palestine activism targets the policies of the Israeli regime, not Jewish communities worldwide.
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