British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, made a speech outside No. 10 Downing Street on Friday night to warn that British democracy faces many challenges, urging against allowing the extremist hijack marches, POLITICO reported.
In a speech calling for tolerance in politics after weeks of heightened tensions, Sunak said he feared that Britain’s “great achievement” – a multi-ethnic, multi-faith democracy – was now being “deliberately undermined” by Islamists and extremists
Sunak also singled out Galloway, a former Labour MP who supports Gaza, for ignoring the “horror” of Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel. Speaking in similar fashion came after chaotic scenes in the British parliament in recent weeks, and after a tense by-election in Rochdale.
A House of Commons vote calling for a ceasefire in Gaza turned chaotic last month after Speaker Lindsay Hoyle ignored a long-standing precedent, citing concern for MPs’ safety. Lawmakers faced vigorous protests against the war outside constituency offices, parliament and, in some cases, their homes; some have received death threats.
“Islamist extremists and far-right groups are spreading a poison,” Sunak stressed, adding the following: “That poison is extremism. It aims to drain us of our confidence in ourselves as a people and in our shared future.”
The campaign group Momentum, which took part in some of the protests, accused Sunak on Friday night that he was “smearing peaceful protesters whose demand for an immediate cease-fire represents the mainstream of public opinion.”
Sunak concluded his speech by listing the pre-announced measures his government is taking to reform police control of protests and appealed to those who choose to take to the streets: “Don’t let the extremist hijack your marches,” he said.
“You have a chance in the coming weeks to show that you can protest decently, peacefully and with empathy for your fellow citizens.”
“Let us prove these extremists wrong and show them that even when we disagree, we will never be disunited from our common values of decency, and respect.”
