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Pressure is mounting on Suella Braverman to use state of emergency powers to stop this weekend’s pro-Palestinian “hate march” after organisers of a counter-demonstration have raised fears there could be “carnage” on the streets of London.
Thousands of people are understood to be prepared to respond to a call for help to guard the Cenotaph on Saturday when a “million-person march” for Palestine is set to take place, originally reported by this newspaper.
The organisers of the counterprotest, centre-right group Turning Point UK, have privately raised fears that their vigil by the Cenotaph to protect it from far-left and pro-Palestinian thugs is set to be hijacked by far-right hooligans.
Far-right activist Tommy Robinson and the Football Lads group are expected to be descending on the area too with thousands of supporters.
A Turning Point source said they had decided to cut off their vigil at midnight on Saturday out of fear things could turn violent afterwards.
READ MORE: Braverman urged to trigger ‘state of emergency’ powers to stop ‘hate marches’
The source said: “We want to differentiate ourselves from those [far-right] groups.
“I think it’s going to be carnage when it gets dark.”
Express.co.uk has already revealed that pressure was growing on Ms Braverman to use her powers in the Civil Contingency Act 2004 to stop the pro-Palestinian march going ahead.
Already, one of the marches has violated the Cenotaph while others have seen other memorials targeted.
The problems have not just been in London, with war memorials targeted around the country by anti-Israel activists.
Last night Stoke North MP Jonathan Gullis warned that the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Sir Mark Rowley was “too weak” to stop the protests himself.
He said: “Mark Rowley is not being brave enough to make the decision. You have to assume it is because he is scared and/ or trying to dodge saying no to the ‘protests’, because he worries it would be seen as ‘controversial’ by a vocal minority on social media. Very weak!”
Sir Mark had claimed that only ministers had the power to stop the marches.
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In Rochdale, the war memorial has been targeted three times including with graffiti.
Rochdale Council have said: “On the afternoon of Tuesday 7 November graffiti was sprayed on the Cenotaph. This is totally unacceptable and is also being investigated by police. The graffiti will be removed as soon as we are able to.
“As we said in our initial response – we are proud of our strong links with our armed forces community. Our war memorials and monuments are incredibly important and should be respected by everyone at all times.”
But the incident and others like it have heightened tensions and anger around the country with pro-Palestinian protest organisers laying on coaches to bring thousands of people to London for a demonstration.
The Home Secretary has labelled their protests “hate marches” after anti-Semitic chants were heard on them, black jihadi flags were flown and Hamas’s barbarous terrorist attack on Israel killing 1,400 innocent people was openly glorified.
It has also been reported that half the groups involved in organising the protests support Hamas, which is proscribed as a terrorist organisation.
Tory MPs have vented their frustration with the Metropolitan Police who have asked demonstrators not to come but have not tried to prevent them from arriving.
There have been concerns raised over a lack of action in tackling supporters of terrorism on the pro-Palestinian marches but a heavy-handed approach by the Metropolitan Police in stopping campaigners against anti-Semitism in showing the faces of the children kidnapped by Hamas.
MPs have demanded that the police “get a grip” on the situation with concerns that Armistice Day and the Remembrance commemorations on November 11 and 12 will be violated and disrespected by the pro-Palestinian protesters.
Now with concerns that thousands of far-right activists also making their way to London, there are genuine fears of pitched battles on the streets of London unless emergency powers are used to prevent the protests.
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