David Davis: Why has no action been taken over Muslim cartoon protests?

David Davis has written to the Home Secretary about the anti-cartoon protests of early February.  This is the text of his letter:

“I am writing with regard to the demonstrations which occurred on 3rd and 4th February outside the Danish Embassy in Knightsbridge, concerning cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad.
 
These protests contained elements whose behaviour the Prime Minister’s spokesman described as ‘unacceptable’ (Downing Street Press Briefing, 6 February 2006).

You will remember that protesters carried banners that incited violence and indeed murder, offences which the public have a right to expect the police to deal with and deal with promptly.

At the time Downing Street declared that in such situations ‘there were always decisions to be taken about whether to act immediately or to act later’. The police would ‘make operational judgments on the ground and then pursue matters later on’ (Downing Street Press Briefing, 6 February 2006). This implied that action would be taken.
 
You yourself promised that the police were undertaking ‘rigorous assessments’ and that if they concluded ‘there have been breaches of the law and decide to take any action, we would, of course, support them’ (The Guardian, 6 February 2006). This implied action was being undertaken.
 
The Metropolitan Police stated they were assessing the evidence collected, promising that ‘all complaints made to police will be passed to the Public Order Crime Unit for investigation’ (Metropolitan Police, The Telegraph, 5 February 2006).
 
There were no evidential issues that would delay criminal proceedings because there were ‘several different means of collecting the necessary evidence should it be required post-event’. (Metropolitan Police, The Telegraph, 5 February 2006).
 
It is now four weeks later. The police appear to be aware of the identity of those who committed offences but no arrests under any of the several possible criminal charges have been made. It is difficult to understand why this is so.
 
There is a clear public interest in ensuring that those who incite murder are appropriately dealt with and an equal public interest that there is no unnecessary delay. Furthermore, not to take action is to let down the moderate Muslim majority.

Justice needs to be done and be seen to be done rapidly. I would be grateful if you would let me know why no action appears to have been taken for what is now an unconscionable length of time.”

Congratulations to David Davis for not letting this issue die.

Comments

[Mark]

Why?, simple, Labour dont want to lose muslim votes.

Theyre sure gonna need them come the next General election.

[Ted]

like it has with Tessa Jowell this government thinks if it says the right things the newspapers will forget as new stories come up. Well done DD for waiting just long enough then following up...but remember you'll need to do it again, then again then again until the next outrage.

What's the betting Clarke or perhaps NuLabs favourites Milliband/Balls will say "we could have done something earlier if you'd let us have glorification"

[Jonathan Sheppard]

Absolutely right - David Davis and the Home Office team are doing the right thing innot letting this issue drop. How on earth can the Government jutify such a delay? It beggars belief!

[Richard]

Who else thinks BNP members would have been prosecuted if they'd held up offensive placards calling for the behading of Muslims?

[Derek]

Three cheers for David Davis for calling for action. The delay in pursuing this is nothing short of a disgrace. If no action is taken it will be clear that we have a two tier system in this country.

[Tory T]

Ha! It's just been announced that the police are 'about' to make arrests. Not that the police and prosecuting authorities are ever 'political'...

[Jonathan Sheppard]

If true how very convenient.

[Ted]

BBCi report it in Latest News but strangely don't currently mention DDs letter anywhere...
Just as this morning Millaband's interview on subject of urban regeneration seemed completely unrelated to yesterdays Heseltine announcement
HoHum

[Jonathan Sheppard]

Mention is made now of DDs letter - and that arrests will be made "in the near future".... nothing like giving plenty of notice that the police may be on their way round.

[Annabel Herriott]

Yes Jonathan! You may be sure that the perpetrators are on the next plane out as I speak! There IS a two tier system, alive and well. If this is such a lousy country to livein, why do so many folk from some place else want to come and join us??

[Daniel Vince-Archer]

Well done to David Davis on this one. His ongoing mastery of the Home Affairs brief is a good sign - I hope he lasts the course into the next Conservative government.

[john Skinner]

The police were a little quicker off the mark in Monmouthshire, I hear. Apparently a retired cop had been to the funeral of an old colleague. Afterwards he sat in a pub with a few serving cops and referred to another old colleague as,"that diversity dyke." (She ran PC training courses on "diversity"). They carried on laughing and joking, then broke up.
Later, two cops returned and told the retired cop he was under arrest for homophobia. He was handcuffed and put in a cell for the night.
Apparently he's going on trial in a fortnight.
The source is The Daily Mail and I heard it second hand. Say it isn't so, someone.

[Richard]

"Apparently he's going on trial in a fortnight."

On trial for what? Since when was using the word "dyke" a criminal offence? Can we expect to see comedians who make gay jokes rounded up next?

We're turning into a nation of children. "Sir, sir, he called me a nasty name, please arrest him!"

All this will do is undermine those calling for homosexual equality by making them look as intolerant as the homophobes they criticise.

[Jonathan Sheppard]

I really think Labour are quite weak in the Home Office area - even if they think the likes of Hazel Blears are rising stars. Actually is probably more a case of we perfrom pretty strongy in this area.

[Mark Fulford]

Please don't mention Hazel Blears around me. She is from the same mould as Patricia Hewitt and David Miliband - their tone makes my skin crawl.

Editor, to follow from Labour's sleaziest moment, how about Labour's most despised?

[Andrew Woodman]

Is there enough bandwidth Mark? Hewitt is the worse one imo. That patronising tone just makes me want to throw a brick at the TV.

Anyway, back to the subject, Davis is again showing himself to be the best performing shadow minister again with this. I just hope he's allowed to carry on with the brief until the election and beyond. It is essential that we maintain our lead in the opinion polls on crime.

[Jonathan Sheppard]

It getting the balance right. Ensuring we have well thought out policies in areas where we might have been perceived as weak - whilst continuing to hit home in areas we've particularly been quite strong.

On the Home Office brief one only has to take one piece of legisaltion which I believe will be/is in the Lords - the Violent Crime Disorder Bill.

This introduces alcohol disorder zones which means any premise with a licence will have to contribute extra funds on top of business rates to combat alcohol fuelled crime. This would include places like Next who sell alcohol at Xmas in gift packs. How ridiculous - but hey, the Government in its infinite wisdom and joined up way of thinking decides to allow longer opening of pubs and clubs at the same time.

I could go on......

[Patsy Sergeant]

And if the police can't be further persuaded to delay things, the brilliant and so useful CPS, could definitely be relied upon to decide a prosecution would be too expensive etc: etc:

[Sean Fear]

Apparently he's going on trial in a fortnight"

I can't imagine what he could be tried for. View this story with caution. Usually, the police will just harass people for offending New Labour, rather than trying to get them prosecuted in circumstances where there is no chance of a conviction.

[Geoff]

Sean, apparently as a Section 5 public order offence, whatever one of those might be. Maybe a small demonstration should be held outside in Flintshire on 10th April.

Hmmm, now what to wear when we get there... the "Behead Westerners" t-shirt is sooooo last month, dharling, and no-one found out if it accessorized with handcuffs. Oooh, how about "I'm With The Dyke" - that'll get your collar felt.

[Peter Harrison]

A Section 5 offence is disorderly behaviour. It covers non-violent behaviour which is not necessarily threatening, abusive or insulting. It includes such things as shouting abuse or obscenities at passers by, causing a disturbance in a public area, bullying, pestering people waiting in a queue and rowdy behaviour late at night. These examples are not exhaustive (and this is a precis of information on the CPS website).

Even with this definition, I find it hard to see how the reported action of the ex-policeman involved qualifies. However, the CPS presumably think there is a good chance of conviction so we'll have to see what the courts say.

It may, of course, be the case that the "facts" being reported are only partial and that there is more to the incident in question. The press are not averse to creating a "PC gone mad" story through partial reporting.

[spagbob]

"Later, two cops returned and told the retired cop he was under arrest for homophobia. He was handcuffed and put in a cell for the night."

please say we havent reached this stage yet. surely homophobia isnt a crime at the moment.

[verulamgal]

The incident did happen ~ in North Wales. it happens to be the same force that spent 4000 GBP of taxpayers' money investigating anti-Welsh comments made by Anne Robinson

[Howard Stevenson]

Is DDs letter an example of us setting the news agenda? If thats the case we have done it twice this week. Once with DD and secondly with the innercities task force on Monday and Tarzan putting is leopard skin underpants again.

Millibands attempts to revive the innercities on Tuesday was drowned out because of it and came accross as a reaction to what we were doing.

It does appear that we have got new labour reacting to what we are doing rather than the other way round. That is a very good thing.

[Peter Harrison]

I'm sure the incident happened. The question is whether what we are hearing at the moment is all of the incident or a one-sided account.

At this stage of proceedings, the prosecution are seriously limited in what they can say. However, "friends of the accused" are free to spin the story to the press in a way that presents a misleading picture. Couple that with the fact that "PC gone mad" stories help to sell newspapers and you have a recipe for a very one-sided version of the event getting into the public domain and becoming accepted as fact.

I'm not saying that is what has happened here. I have no inside knowledge. It may well be as ridiculous as it seems on the surface. However, until the full evidence has come out, this should be treated with caution as there may be a lot more to this story than we've been told so far.

[Richard]

"However, until the full evidence has come out, this should be treated with caution as there may be a lot more to this story than we've been told so far."

People should not be arrested for saying things, no matter how offensive. If he was being disorderly the landlord should have kicked him out. Only if this was proving impossible or people at the scene had reason to believe he would create trouble outside the pub should the police have become involved.

[Margaret]

They should have been arrested on the day, not just talking about it 4 weeks later.

What does 'about' to make arrests mean? It is just said to placate those of us who are fed up with this two tier system.

Yes, the BNP would have been arrested on the spot if they had been waving banners denouncing Blair.

[Daniel Vince-Archer]

"The incident did happen ~ in North Wales. it happens to be the same force that spent 4000 GBP of taxpayers' money investigating anti-Welsh comments made by Anne Robinson."

It's also the same force that is headed by speed camera fanatic Richard Brunstrom, who has achieved the impossible in rivalling Inspector Bodge-it himself, Sir Ian Blair, in the 'questionable priorities' stakes.

[Umbongo]

You can now - quite legally - be arrested for ANYTHING. This is not to say that charges will be brought in respect of the offence for which you are arrested but that's the way things are in this country. You would think that Messrs Cameron and Davis would have something to say about this. Not bl**dy likely!

[Richard]

"You would think that Messrs Cameron and Davis would have something to say about this."

They'd be too afraid of being construed as homophobic by the media. It seems that only the likes of Peter Tatchell can defend free speech without being labelled bigots.

[hey]

hey what is he excellent at