Protests on Armistice Day Show Democracy in Action
Suella Braverman has finally been sacked. Last week I reported that she was fighting for her political life after she criticised the police and undermined Rishi Sunak. While she made it through the weekend she has now been sacked as part of a cabinet reshuffle that made James Cleverly the new Home Secretary and saw a shock return to government for David Cameron.
Braverman attempted to mend her relationship with the Met on Saturday by lavishing praise on officers who were on duty for the pro-Palestinian protests. Despite this backpedalling it is important to remember that this is a politician who would happily do away with protests altogether.
300,000 people eventually marched through London on Armistice Day but Braverman did not want the, in her words, “hate marches” to go ahead at all. Fortunately for the rest of us, she doesn’t get to decide. Instead there is still a right to protest and it is up to the police whether there is a risk to the public.
As the number of protesters has grown week-on-week, that has become a much more difficult balancing act. Policing the marches has also been tricky given that a vocal minority on both side seem keen on spreading messages of hate.
However the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign have been good at working with the police to make the protests go off peacefully with little incident. The march this weekend took place far from the cenotaph and began long after the traditional two-minute silence.
The truth is that Armistice Day is the perfect day to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. We remembered our veterans and remembered that they fought for an end to all wars and killing. That is what the majority of protesters wanted and the divisive words of politicians should not detract from this goal even as they try to stoke their own culture wars.
This week on the podcast a company going into administration left employees vulnerable to a swift and unexpected redundancy. The Supreme Court considered what protections were available in law.
Episode link: https://uklawweekly.com/2023-uksc-38/
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