Nigel Farage suggests possible compromise for Remembrance Day protest
Nigel Farage set out the “only possible compromise” for the pro-Palestine demonstration due to take place on Armistice Day.
The former Ukip and Brexit Party leader said it was “probably now too late” to ban the protest in central London this Saturday.
But Mr Farage suggested the rally should be confined to Hyde Park as a “compromise solution”, rather than the planned route to the US embassy in Vauxhall.
Speaking on his GB News show, he said: “I suspect in some ways it’s probably now too late to ban this march. People will have booked tickets, they’re probably going to turn up anyway.
“So is there a compromise solution? I think there is. You see, the police certainly don’t have the power to ban gatherings.
READ MORE: Nigel Farage erupts as poppy-selling veteran ‘punched’ by protesters[LATEST]
“So why not allow the pro-Palestine protesters to have their gathering in Hyde Park, to fly their flags in Hyde Park, but if they leave Hyde Park and head towards our national monuments then arrest every single one of them. That to me seems to be at this late hour perhaps the only possible compromise.”
Mr Farage also criticised the lack of decision-making over the march as he took aim at Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, the Met Police and London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
There have been ongoing calls for it to be banned due to fears over Remembrance events being disrupted and violence erupting around the Cenotaph.
The PM said he will hold Met Police chief Sir Mark Rowley personally accountable for his decision to allow the demonstration to take place following a meeting earlier today.
Mr Farage said: “The indecision is reaching levels that are almost embarrassing. Who’s in charge of making a decision as to whether the pro-Palestine march should go ahead through central London this Saturday, Armistice Day, or not?
- Support fearless journalism
- Read The Daily Express online, advert free
- Get super-fast page loading
“It was interesting that the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak summoned Sir Mark Rowley, the boss of the Metropolitan Police, to Downing Street today.
“But it seems to be all over the place because Sir Mark yesterday said it’s up to politicians to draw the lines, it’s up to politicians to set the rules.
“But I would argue Sir Mark that actually the Public Order Act of 1986 is perfectly clear. If you think there is a serious danger of violence or damage, then you have the power to recommend that the march is banned.
“And given some of the appalling scenes from the last three Saturdays and what we’ve seen happened to puppy sellers on Charing Cross Station and worse still Waverly station up in Edinburgh, and now the vandalism of course of that Cenotaph in Rochdale, I’d have thought the danger was pretty obvious and pretty clear.
“So they had the meeting in Downing Street and Rishi Sunak has come out with a sort of pretty weak-kneed statement saying that he thinks that the whole thing is inappropriate and wrong, but it’s people’s right to march and that’s what we fought for.
“Well, there is a point of course in that. But nobody wants to take responsibility.
“Let alone of course the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, now he’s put out a statement, he’s been ever so quiet for the last week, in the last hour or two saying no one disputes that remembrance events must be protected but the policing of protests are operational decisions for the Met, not the Home Secretary.
“Yes Sadiq Khan we know that but who has direct responsibility for the operations of the Metropolitan Police Force? Well, it’s you and you have enormous power.
“He wants nothing to do with it. The Government want nothing to do with it.
“By the way if they wanted to they could ban the march by passing emergency powers, that wouldn’t be a problem, but they won’t do it.
“And it seems that the Met are frankly, I think, increasingly turning a blind eye to some of the awful things that are being said and done on our streets.”
Source: Read Full Article