UK Conservative MP slammed after calling for arrests over ‘Allahu Akbar’ chants

LONDON: A Conservative Party leadership candidate in the UK has faced condemnation for suggesting police should arrest protesters chanting “Allahu Akbar” (God is great), The Guardian reported on Wednesday.
Robert Jenrick’s comments follow week-long nationwide riots by far-right groups, which have been met by counter-protesters, including many from the Muslim community.
The Conservative MP, a favorite in the party’s leadership race, made the remarks on Sky News in a discussion on the concept of “two-tier” policing.
Some commentators in the UK have claimed that police have reacted more harshly toward certain groups of protesters in light of pro-Palestine rallies that have taken place across Britain since last year.
“I have been very critical of police in the past, particularly around the attitude of some police forces to the protests we saw since Oct. 7,” Jenrick said.
“I thought it was quite wrong that somebody could shout Allahu Akbar on the streets of London and not be immediately arrested, project genocidal chants on to Big Ben and not be immediately arrested. That attitude is wrong and I’ll always call out the police for it.”
The leadership hopeful was widely criticized for his comments, including by Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, who accused Jenrick of “stirring up” rioting across the UK.
Mel Stride, a fellow Conservative who is also running in the leadership campaign, broke party ranks to accuse Jenrick of being “unwise and insensitive.”
He added: “Any threat in the use of these words can only ever be implied in the very rarest of circumstances. Context clearly matters hugely here.”
Conservative peer Sayeeda Warsi and Labour MP Naz Shah, who are both Muslim, also criticized Jenrick.
Warsi said on X: “Every day before we start parliamentary business in the Commons and Lords we say a prayer and praise God — we say our parliamentary version of Allahu Akbars at the heart of democracy — a process Robert Jenrick is a part of.”
Shah said: “This is complete ignorance and textbook Islamophobia from Robert Jenrick. It literally equates every Muslim in the world with extremism … it’s a basic Islamic saying that every Muslim in the world says in prayer.”
Jenrick later defended his comments in an interview on Times Radio. “I fundamentally disagree with Sayeeda Warsi … if a politician like myself, a political leader who aspires to be leader of the opposition of our country, cannot speak out about the undoubted problem we have as a country with Islamist extremism for fear of being falsely labeled as a racist by an individual such as Sayeeda Warsi, then that is a very troubling situation.”
He also posted a video on X showing masked Muslim protesters in Bolton chanting “Allahu Akbar,” accusing the group of being “intimidatory and threatening.”
Jenrick said in the caption: “Allahu Akbar is spoken peacefully and spiritually by millions of British Muslims in their daily lives. But the aggressive chanting below is intimidatory and threatening. And it’s an offence under section four and five of the Public Order Act.
“Extremists routinely abuse common expressions for their own shameful ends. All violence must end. All violence must be called out.”
The Muslim Council of Britain said in a statement: “We are shocked at Robert Jenrick’s claim on Sky News this morning that those who proclaim ‘God is great’ (or Allahu Akbar) in public should be arrested.
“As a prospective leader, Mr. Jenrick should be showing leadership, reassuring our communities when fear is palpable.
“Instead, by calling for a well-worn religious phrase to warrant arrest, which is the kind of divisive language we would come to expect peddled by sections of the media and politicians, he has emboldened the far-right thugs we see on our streets today.
“He should apologise, fully retract his comments and speak to ordinary Muslims to understand why his remarks are so outrageous. Rather than inflaming tensions, he should focus on ways to bring communities together.”