Remembrance Day riots will be a turning-point for this country - Stephen Place

There is no doubt in my mind that this coming weekend we will see and experience a great turning point for this country.

The traditions and values of our collective remembrance of the fallen dead are clearly going to be challenged and especially in London. We have seen over the last few weekends on a gigantic scale a challenge by the mob to our law and order, so far that challenge has not in any way been accepted.

Large numbers of protesters running riot in the capital has led to copycat incidents across the country. The cenotaph in Edinburgh was set on fire and several marches throughout the country have led to violence. Wreaths on the cenotaph in Rochdale were thrown about and replaced with Palestinian flags. 

We have witnessed calls for “jihad” the displaying of Isis and Hamas flags (proscribed terrorist groups) and open calls for “death to Jews” with nothing done, police officers escorting marchers have remained passive and the optics are, disinterested.

One protester gave his Palestinian flags to an officer to hold whilst he climbed two stories on a scaffold to place a further flag there, on reaching the ground he was handed back his flags and allowed to go on his way.

Statues at different points in London were vandalised and covered with the Palestinian flag. Flares were allowed to be lit and large numbers of protesters surrounded poppy sellers at various locations in the capital shouting them down and stopping them selling the poppy.

The rank and file police officers cannot be blamed for this malaise. No it has to be the people in charge, on large salaries and ensconced in ivory towers who are the culprits. 

They set the tone and tenor of policing, they are the gold commanders on the ground directing operations. Orders are orders and it is obvious that a passive “we will get you later” after the event, ethos is in place.

The Met tweeting on X the different meanings for the word “jihad” did absolutely nothing to persuade the public at large that they deserved our support, quite the opposite, they just underlined the mealy-mouthed approach to potential large scale civil disobedience. But this civil disobedience is very much more sinister to that of previous years such as the Countryside Alliance and 

Stop the War Coalition. People are not falling for it, they want to see affirmative action, they want to see law and order on the streets.

Sir Mark Rowley, the new commissioner of the Met, has been weak and pathetic with his excuses. His appearance in full uniform on the podcast “the newsagents” has done nothing to instil any confidence in his leadership being robust and forthright. 

He has tried to offload responsibility for the poor policing of crowds in London onto the Government, asking for clarity on the law and suggesting redrawing laws when called in to see the Home Secretary after his officers failed to act when people were calling for “jihad”. 

I had faith in this new commissioner, he talked the talk but it appears he, like others before him cannot walk the walk. When strong leadership is clearly needed, Sir Mark, so far is lacking.

He has the power to ban this march on the weekend of Remembrance, but so has the Home Secretary and so of course the Mayor of London, one can of course not expect anything whatsoever from that man, he has clearly nailed his colours to the mast of unrest.

Not good enough is it? We must demand more from our leaders. 

I think the country is going to keep a very keen eye on these events as they unfold this weekend. Our wonderful veterans, many of them aged, will of course have to run the gauntlet of public transport to get to the cenotaphs throughout the country, one can only guess the fallout if any one of them is injured in any way at all.  

Time to stand up and be counted, those who fell did so making the ultimate sacrifice, we cannot let our ceremony of thanks to them all be hijacked by a baying mob who have no respect for what they did.

Stephen Place is Law and Order spokesman for the centrist Alliance for Democracy and Freedom. He began his police career in September 1978 and retired in August 1999.