British Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch issued a stark warning at the opening of the party’s annual conference in Manchester, declaring that the streets of the UK have become “theatres of intimidation” amid rising extremism, Sky News reports.
Her remarks came just days after a deadly terror attack at a Manchester synagogue left two people dead. Badenoch condemned what she described as unchecked extremism, pointing to recent Pro-Palestinian Arab demonstrations as “carnivals of hatred directed at the Jewish homeland.”
She criticized slogans such as “Globalize the Intifada,” calling them “asinine” and stating, “It means nothing at all, if it doesn’t mean targeting Jewish people for violence.”
Badenoch called for a national stand against such displays: “The message from this conference, from this party, from every decent and right-thinking person in this country must be that we will not stand for it any more. We cannot import and tolerate values hostile to our own.”
She emphasized the need to protect public spaces from intimidation: “You can think what you like, and within the bounds of the law you can say what you like, but you have no right to turn our streets into the theatres of intimidation and we will not let you do so any more.”
In response to the Manchester attack, Badenoch voiced support for government efforts to restrict repeat protests.
On Saturday, nearly 500 people were arrested in central London during demonstrations backing Palestine Action, which had been designated a terrorist organization by the UK government.
The protests went ahead despite appeals from Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley, both of whom urged postponement out of respect for the grieving Jewish community.