Gove ignites a powder keg plan to 'make marchers pay'

Michael Gove has provoked a furious debate by unveiling plans to "make marchers pay" for the massive pro-Palestinian protests dominating the centre of London at weekends.

- DAVID MADDOX, HOLLY BANCROFT

In a hard-hitting speech yesterday, Mr Gove warned of a huge rise in antisemitism in the UK, pointing out that the number of incidents was up 147 per cent last year. He pointed to evidence from the Community Security Trust (CST) which stated that two-thirds of the 4,103 antisemitic incidents occurred on or after the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October, which triggered the war in Gaza.

The communities secretary announced a number of measures to tackle extremism from Islamists, the far right and the extreme left, which featured in a series of recommendations from former Labour MP Lord Walney in a report on the subject.

The report, published yesterday, included references to proPalestinians and climate change activists such as Just Stop Oil. He warned that the UK is “at a crossroads” as he laid out 41 recommendations, including:

• Tightening laws to ban Gaza protests on certain days such as Remembrance Sunday
• Making it easier for businesses to pursue organisers of protests for damages
• Making protest groups pay for policing
• Banning protests near parliament and creating a buffer zone around MPs’ offices
• Police and CPS should apply the law more broadly to crack down on people praising terror groups
• Not automatically suspending teachers in blasphemy row

Lord Walney has also called on ministers to expand the Public Order Act 1986 so that police have greater powers to stop marches from going ahead.