On Wednesday evening, thousands of pro-Palestinian protestors congregated to pray in support of Gaza. Roads were blocked off, and the adhan (the Muslim call to prayer) was broadcast at a dizzying volume. Where was this, you might ask? Just outside Downing Street, of course—where else?
The demonstration was revealing more for what didn’t happen than for what did. Not only did no arrests take place, but the police seemed content to watch meekly from the periphery. This represents something of a break from tradition, as the UK constabulary customarily takes a harsh line on matters of religion —at least, where Christianity is concerned.
In 2019, 64-year-old Oluwole Ilesanmi was arrested for preaching outside Southgate tube station. Video footage reveals the arresting officer claiming Ilesanmi was “causing problems, disturbing people’s days,” and that “no one wants to hear that. They want you to go away.” In 2020, it was the turn of Hazel Lewis, a cancer survivor who had dared to preach a biblical message outside Finsbury Park tube. A year later, David McConnell, a street preacher in Leeds, was arrested, convicted, and handed an 80-hour community order for causing offence to a ‘transwoman,’ Farrah Munir. Munir had asked whether God was accepting of the LGBT community and was told (correctly in biblical terms) that “homosexuality is an abomination in the eyes of God.”
Perhaps the most tenuous use of UK law to clamp down on free speech and free expression are the ‘public spaces protection orders’ which came into effect in 2014. The orders are allegedly designed to prohibit activities that “have a detrimental effect on the quality of life” in public places; in reality, they appear to be little more than legal censorship. Thus far, they have been used to create ‘buffer zones’ around abortion clinics to prevent pregnant women from being harassed. This might appear a sensible measure until you hear the case of Isabel Vaughan-Spruce.
Isabel, a dangerous Catholic woman armed with a double-barrelled surname, was arrested twice for the crime of ‘silent prayer,’ on the pretext that such prayers amounted to ‘intimidation’; yes, you read that correctly. What was particularly egregious about her case wasn’t simply the six burly officers the MET Police dispatched to deal with her, but the non-sensical conversation she was forced to endure prior to her arrest.
Officer: The Public Space Protection Order says not to be stood (Sic) out here, doesn’t it?
Isabel: No, it says not to protest; I’m not protesting.
Officer: Yeah, protest. But people know who you are, and they know why you’re here.
Isabel: Then they’ll know I’m not protesting.
Officer: But they will. The people who persistently phone us, which are the residents, and the people who use this place, are the ones that say that they know—and it’s their perception of events, isn’t it?
Isabel: I’m silently praying, and that’s all I’m doing.
Officer: OK, and it’s their perception of events which is that you’re protesting. Now, I get what you’re saying, I completely understand where you’re coming from. But it’s people’s perceptions, isn’t it?
Other people’s perceptions—surely, that effectively criminalises any action—provided someone can be dredged up who disagrees with you? But at least it proves one thing: the police have the capacity to take matters of religion seriously, at least when it suits them.
The exception to the rule
However, one religion consistently manages to fly beneath the radar where the police are concerned. Contrast the police force’s apparent war on Christianity with their treatment of the Muslim congregations, who regularly take over the streets of London (and Britain generally) whenever the mood takes them. Whether it’s Berwich Street, Soho, Brune Street, Spitalfields, Newgate Street, the City of London, or outside the Woolwich Mosque, the modus operandi is the same: roads are effectively shut down, the adhan is blasted, and the public is forced to wait.
The usual justification for this practice is that it is necessitated by the lack of available spaces for indoor prayer. However, with at least ten mosques within a mile of (for example) Berwick Street, this would seem unlikely. A much more credible explanation is that these public displays are an ‘in your face’ shows of strength: ‘We’re here, we’re taking over, and there’s nothing you can do about it.’
In Britain, we are constantly informed by the police that the greatest threat to national security is ‘far-right extremism,’ which (upon inspection) usually turns out to be Brexit voters and lockdown sceptics—at least, judging by the police response. However, when the public are inconvenienced or under attack from Just Stop Oil, Black Lives Matter, Antifa, or Hamas supporters, i.e., the far Left, the police are invariably content to look on unmoved, make tea, or kneel in submission. In the case of Islam, that’s hardly surprising either. Earlier this year, an Islamic terrorist admitted plotting to shoot a Christian preacher at Speaker’s Corner. Like the rest of the authorities, the police have clearly decided it’s easier to silence Christians if you want peace.
Faced with the recent wave of Just Stop Oil attacks on the capital, the Home Office handed the police extra powers to deal with unruly protests. And yet, even as the police declare antisemitic ‘hate crime’ is up 1,350% since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas conflict, they have still ordered a Jewish charity to switch off the billboards of missing children in central London. You’ve got to make sure the right people aren’t offended, haven’t you?
In terms of protest, Downing Street was always a different matter for the rest of the country. After all, you can’t expect the government to be hindered by its own laissez-faire policies. Earlier this year, Just Stop Oil protestors were removed unceremoniously from Downing Street, where it appeared the officers in attendance still remembered their oath of allegiance. However, even in the space of a fortnight since the attack on Israel, the government is already backtracking on its initial tough stance. Last week, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly was unequivocal that such protests should not go ahead: “There is no need; there is no necessity for people to come out. It causes distress.” By Friday, this had morphed into the submission that pro-Palestine marchers have the right to protest but that they should “be mindful” of the “fear and distress felt by many families in this country.”
Such an unmistakable capitulation cannot be viewed alternatively. If the authorities truly intend to treat Islam with kid gloves in perpetuity, they might as well roll out Sharia law nationwide and admit that non-Muslims are second-class citizens.
The biggest threat to national security in Britain isn’t ‘white supremacy’; it’s the carte blanche afforded Islam,and judging by this latest show of strength outside Downing Street, the authorities aren’t even pretending to be even-handed anymore.
https://europeanconservative.com/articles/commentary/downing-street-surrenders-to-islam/