Since October 7, the reignition of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - sparked, of course, by Hamas and other groups' assault, murder and kidnapping of thousands of Israeli civilians and troops, and continued by Israel's overwhelming military response in the Gaza Strip - has fuelled tens of thousands of protests the world over.
In the UK, crowds hundreds of thousands strong have marched through the streets of cities and towns across the land in order to make their demands clear: an end to British economic ties with Israel, a ceasefire in Gaza, British arms manufacturers to stop outfitting the Israeli military with technology, and many more besides.
Most of these demonstrators are peacefully exercising their right to free speech; to raise awareness on what is, undeniably, a humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Of course, protests are nothing new. One only need cast their mind back to Aldermaston, Blair, the Poll Tax, and... Donald Trump... to know that some Britons are capable of raising their voice when they see fit.
Even now, groups like Just Stop Oil (JSO) and Extinction Rebellion (XR) - motivated by what they call a looming "unprecedented global climate emergency" - are more than able to rally thousands to their side on a whim.
But amid the crowds lie groups and individuals with ulterior motives, which policymakers have said "seize on criminal sabotage and illegal disruption as their method of forcing their way into the conversation".
Groups like Extinction Rebellion (left) and Just Stop Oil (right) are more than able to rally thousands to their side on a whim
PA
Both large-scale protests and disruptive individuals can wreak immense social change; indeed, in the last day, GB News has revealed that JSO activists will target airports including Heathrow and Gatwick at the height of the holiday season in order to make the biggest splash they can - and, of course, to get eyes on their cause.
The Johnson government knew that first point to be true; in late 2020, it commissioned a report from John Woodcock, Baron Walney, into political violence and disruption.
Last week, that report - a sprawling 292-page review calling on the governments of today and tomorrow to clamp down on extreme protest groups - finally saw the light of day.
In it, the public are warned of the threat of the "extreme left", which, despite not "routinely employing violent methods", Lord Walney said, "systematically seek to undermine faith in our parliamentary democracy and the rule of law".
Lord Walney drew attention to links between Islamists and the far-left which he said represent an "unholy alliance"
Getty/Pool
At its official reveal at a Whitehall press conference, Lord Walney drew attention to alarming links between Islamists and the far-left, which he said represent an "unholy alliance".
Such an "alliance" poses a threat; not just to everyday protesters, not just to the general public, and not just to the government of the day - but to the West at large.
For example, the Stop the War Coalition is allied with the Muslim Association of Britain - a group alleged to be the British affiliate of the Muslim Brotherhood Islamist group as recently as March 2024 by Communities Secretary Michael Gove in Parliament.
And just four days prior to the report's unveiling, former Home Secretary Suella Braverman locked horns on GB News with the National Campaigns Coordinator for the Revolutionary Communist Party, Fiona Lali - who threatened that the "Palestine movement" could bring down "Tory ministers, the Tory government, any government, and any mainstream political party".
GB News spoke to a Home Office source involved in Lord Walney's review to find out more.
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Lord Walney had been commissioned to produce his review by then-PM Boris Johnson
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The Home Office figure said: "The big demonstrations are being run by, effectively, the Stop the War Coalition. That is being run at a high level by the Muslim Brotherhood, Islamist groups and various Trotskyist and Stalinist groups, and they are the leadership of that movement, and they've always been the leadership of that movement."
"The big London demonstrations are a clear example of the phenomenon [the "alliance"] that [Lord Walney] talks about."
Though the source did note that these activist groups were not as strong in smaller, regional demonstrations.
According to the Home Office source, links between Islamist and far-left parties have deep roots.
The two groups, GB News was told, both "think that they are going to lead the population as a whole into a brave new world that they will create", and both wish to preside over a collectivity of people - for Islamists, the "ummah", or Muslims as a whole, and for communists, the proletariat.
By joining forces with the far-left, the source said, Islamist groups had been able to "extend the reach of their audience beyond people who have a strong religious affiliation to a cause".
The Stop the War Coalition is allied with the Muslim Association of Britain, as seen in placards here
Getty
The source continued: "By this stage, the far-left has been eclipsed by the reach of the Islamist groups.
"Revolutionary socialist groups are good at organising rallies, and they know how to do that. They're good at printing posters and placards and banners. But Islamist groups can bring down tens - maybe hundreds - of thousands of people."
But the source noted that aside from a desire for revolution, the groups had almost "nothing in common", and posed the question of why they ended up working together.
The answer, the source said, was "imperialism" - citing the writings of late Socialist Worker editor Chris Harman.
Harman had argued that revolutionary socialists seeking to oppose imperialism had believed "intelligent young Muslims" would be game for "converting" from their religion to extreme-left principles and joining socialist movements.
The Home Office source said that today, "whether you're the Muslim Brotherhood or the Socialist Workers Party, you dream of heading up a large demonstration - because you see yourself as being the leadership of your respective constituencies".
They continued: "The risk is that organisations which are inimical and opposed to the basic precepts of liberal democracy end up in a leadership position and end up being treated as authorities."
In order to become part of the "cultural far-left", the source said, one must subscribe to a series of "not well-tied up" policy positions, beliefs and behaviours, which are largely based around causes.
When asked about the Gazan and Palestinian causes, and why they seem so uniquely politically charged, the source pointed to decades-long ties between the Soviet Union and certain Arab states, which set the tone for the far-left and for Muslims back in the UK.
"A lot of what you're seeing [in the links between the two groups today] is basically a line that was handed down from the mid-1950s onwards to communists in the UK, and basically became a line of the left - because the Communist Party of Great Britain dominated the left."
A lot of communists struggle with defining the US and Israel's place in the world, the source said
Reuters
The source referenced the Leninist belief that businesses could "capture" governments and force them to colonise overseas territories in order to establish monopolies within them as a driver behind modern-day far-left beliefs about Israel and the US.
The far-left's understanding of Israel, the source added, had always centred around the belief the US is the "great global imperialist power" and that Israel is "essentially part of America's empire".
But the source said "a lot of people who are communists, when they think about capitalists, they think about Jews" - which leads to the ideological tension on the far-left that "Jews control the world", and thus Israel controls the US, versus "capitalist states control the world", and thus the US controls Israel.
When asked whether activist groups had any "pragmatic" goals beyond revolution, the source told GB News: "No. You might as well ask a Jehovah's Witness whether they really believe that Jesus is about to come back.
"They think that, at some point in the near future, revolution will inevitably happen - and they will lead it!"
An Extinction Rebellion spokesperson told GB News: "An anonymous briefing from someone in the Home Office doesn't sound like much of a story to be honest.
"On the other hand, former government Chief Scientist Sir David King said publicly last week that 'on our current path, civilisation as we know it will disappear' - it should be clear what the real threat is."
GB News has approached the Stop the War Coalition, Just Stop Oil, the Muslim Association of Britain and the Socialist Workers Party for comment.
