By MARTIN BECKFORD IN MUMBAI Published: 10:09 BST, 8 October 2025 | Updated: 10:40 BST, 8 October 2025
Police will be urged to crack down on offensive chants at pro-Palestine protests, Sir Keir Starmer has revealed.The Prime Minister said there needed to be a ‘conversation’ with forces about how controversial rallies for Gaza are being policed amid growing concerns that anti-Semitism is being allowed on the streets of the UK.He singled out the chants heard at the marches - such as ‘globalise the intifada’ and ‘from the river to the sea’ - which many people consider to be inciting violence against Jews but which have until now gone unpunished.His new call for tougher action as part of a review of public order laws comes just days after Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced that police will be given the power to restrict repeat protests, admitting large demonstrations over the past two years have caused ‘considerable fear within the Jewish community’.Pro-Palestine activists remain defiant, however, with students ignoring his plea not to take part in provocative marches on the second anniversary of Hamas’s October 7th massacre of Israelis.Protests also took place around the UK just hours after the Islamist terror attack on a synagogue in Manchester on Thursday, while another 500 people were arrested at the weekend for demonstrating in support of banned terror group Palestine Action.Asked by reporters on his trade mission to India what he will do about the danger posed by Islamism, Sir Keir replied: ‘I think we need to review more broadly public order powers and there will be a series of actions that we will agree in due course across Whitehall.’ The Prime Minister said there needed to be a ‘conversation’ with forces about how controversial rallies for Gaza are being policed He singled out the chants heard at the marches - such as ‘globalise the intifada’ and ‘from the river to the sea’ - which many people consider to be inciting violence against Jews Protests also took place around the UK just hours after the Islamist terror attack on a synagogue in Manchester on ThursdayHe went on: ‘I've asked the Home Secretary to look more broadly at what other powers are available, how they're being used, and whether they should be changed in any way.‘I think we need to go further than that in relation to some of the chants that are going on at some of these protests.’Asked what that would mean, the PM said: ‘Obviously operational matters are very much a matter for the police. So there's only so much the government can do.‘But I do think we need to have a conversation with various police forces about the way in which these are being policed and what measures can be taken.‘That has to be part of the review that we carry into what powers do we have and how they're being exercised.‘And then the question of do any of these powers therefore need to be changed or enhanced. And that's the exercise we're going through.‘But we are talking at length to leaders of the Jewish community about this, as you would expect.’
