By Torcuil Crichton
Burning the Union flag and wearing masks on public demonstrations would become criminal offences under new laws being proposed by the police and government.
The move follows protests in February over the publication of Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammed, during which Islamic extremists dressed as suicide bombers and carried placards urging murder. Six men were charged , but some charges were dropped because identification of the accused could not be established.
Scotland Yard has submitted the idea of criminalising flag burning to the attorney- general, Lord Goldsmith, alongside proposals to ban demonstrators from covering their faces.
Britain’s most senior Muslim officer, Tarique Ghaffur, assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, helped draw up the plans .
But Shami Chakrabarti, director of civil liberties organisation Liberty, said : “We already have laws that cover the people wearing masks on demonstrations, and criminalising flag burning will only serve to give these people the kind of publicity they could only dream of.”
