Home Secretary Suella Braverman criticised for NI 'hate marches' remark

The home secretary has been criticised after using Northern Ireland as a point of comparison while referring to pro-Palestinian protests as "hate marches".

Suella Braverman previously criticised the demonstrations ahead of a march in London this Saturday, on Armistice Day.

Ms Braverman described the marches as "assertion of primacy by certain groups... of the kind we are more used to seeing in Northern Ireland".

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood called Ms Braverman a "pound shop Enoch Powell".

The Foyle MP added it was a "display of aggressive ignorance" and claimed "she is deliberately stoking division to bolster her own brand among the Conservative Party's right wing".

A source close to the home secretary told BBC News NI that the comment was a reference to the activities of "dissident republicans".

Sinn Féin's foreign affairs spokesperson Matt Carthy said the home secretary had "as much knowledge about the situation in Northern Ireland as she seems to have about the situation in Palestine at the moment".

"The British government has taken a disappointing stance in my view in respect of the ongoing conflict in Gaza," he told the BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme.

"I would argue if British ministers are in the frame of mind where they want to talk about Ireland and the north, the frame of mind they should be in is ensuring the DUP return to Stormont and we get the executive up and running."

Speaking in the House of Commons, Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) MP Ian Paisley said there had been "hand-wringing hypocrisy" by some of those critical of Ms Braverman.

"I have witnessed Irish nationalists and republicans, which the Home Secretary referred to in her article, running too quickly to the support of Hamas, to Colombian terrorists, to Hezbollah and to a whole host of others," he said.

"The Home Secretary is correct to call this out and to see it as she sees it and this House is right to back her."

The grand secretary of the Orange Order told the BBC's Talkback programme he "would assume" the home secretary was making a comparison about dissident republican parades.

However, he said it would be helpful if Ms Braverman could "clarify exactly which marches she was actually referring to".

The Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy said Ms Braverman was "seeking to exploit the sensitivities of this moment, and an ignorance of Northern Ireland's history, to inflame community tensions for her own leadership campaign".

He described it as "an appalling new low", and said she should be sacked by the prime minister.

Alliance MP Stephen Farry said that Ms Braverman's "comparisons to Northern Ireland are pathetic", describing her comments as the latest "of a series of cruel comments and oppressive policies".

Writing in The Times, the home secretary stated at the "heart of the matter" she does not "believe that these marches are merely a cry for help for Gaza".

"Also disturbingly reminiscent of Ulster are the reports that some of Saturday's march group organisers have links to terrorist groups, including Hamas," she said.

She added organisers intended to use Armistice Day to parade through London in a "show of strength".

Number 10 has also been asked if it approved of her language.

Labour MP Jess Phillips criticised the remarks as "ignorant from a Conservative and Unionist MP" and "breath-taking but not surprising".

A senior Tory source told the BBC that the article was "wholly offensive and ignorant of where people in Northern Ireland stand on the issues of the the Israel and Gaza".

The government has been embroiled in a row over this weekend's planned march.

The prime minister criticised the timing of the demonstration as "provocative and disrespectful" and said he would hold the Met Police chief accountable over it.

But Sir Mark Rowley rejected calls by campaigners to ban the protest, saying such a move would be a "last resort".

Organisers insist their march will not go near commemorations and accuse the government of manufacturing tensions.

Protests have been held in London, and other cities globally, each Saturday since the Israel-Gaza war began.