Police officers have swooped on Union Jack-clad counter-demonstrators who managed to infiltrate a pro-Palestinian protest attended by tens of thousands of people today.
A small group of people from Our Fight, a pro-Israeli organisation that describes itself as mostly made up of non-Jewish Brits, were seen facing off with protesters while holding signs that read: ‘We stand with Britain’s Jews’.
The Met Police made a ‘small number of arrests’ after breaking up a scuffle between the two groups. Officers were ‘quickly’ on the scene and were seen escorting away counter protesters, some bedecked in the Union flag.
Officers have also thrown a ring of steel around hundreds of pro-Israel supporters near Waterloo Bridge. The group was heard shouting ‘losers’ while a man speaking through a megaphone declared pro-Palestinian protesters ‘animals’.
Meanwhile pro-Palestine protesters were heard chanting ‘Death to the IDF’ and ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’.
The pro-Palestine march made its way through central London one day after a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas came into effect.
It marks the 32nd national demonstration in support of Palestine since October 2023, according to organiser Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), with protesters setting off from Embankment at midday for a march ending in a rally in Whitehall.
Organisers are expected to call for the ceasefire, which was announced by US President Donald Trump, to become a permanent agreement.
A counter protest organised by Stop The Hate is taking place at the junction of Aldwych and the Strand.
Conditions have been imposed on both demonstrations by the Met Police, which set out specific areas protesters can gather and the routes they can march on.
A demonstrator from Our Fight, a pro-Israel organisation, is seen in the crowd among pro-Palestinian supporters, ahead of a Palestine Solidarity Campaign march from Victoria Embankment to Downing Street, central London
Police officers lead away a demonstrator from Our Fight after the group infiltrated a pro-Palestine march this afternoon
A Stop The Hate counter protest demonstrator speaks to a person taking part in a Palestine Solidarity Campaign march from Victoria Embankment to Downing Street
Officers from the Met Police were forced to intervene and escort multiple counter-protesters, holding signs that read ‘We stand with British Jews’ away from the scene
An anti-Palestine protester from the group Our Fight, a pro-Israel organisation, stands amidst pro-Palestine protesters on Saturday morning
Pro-Palestine protesters are seen marching along Westminster bridge in central London on Saturday, a day after a peace deal was reached between Israel and Hamas
A protester holds a sign depicting two halves of a face – one is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the other is Adolf Hitler
Demonstrators from the ‘Palestine Coalition’ gather in support for Palestinians, after a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza went into effect, in London today
Pro-Palestinian supporters hold placards and wave flags in central London, on October 11
PSC director Ben Jamal said pro-Palestine protests will be held less frequently if the ceasefire holds – but believes it is ‘not a viable path to ending decades of apartheid’ in Gaza.
‘We share the huge relief of Palestinians that a ceasefire is now taking effect,’ he said.
‘However, we also know that Israel has violated every ceasefire agreement it has ever signed.
‘In the last two years we have seen Israel commit a live-streamed genocide in Gaza that has killed at least 67,000 Palestinians, including 20,000 children. And we have seen our governments, Conservative and Labour, continue to arm and politically support Israel.
‘We will keep protesting and campaigning all over the UK to end the complicity of our government, public bodies and corporations with Israel’s crimes under international law.’
But campaigners against anti-Semitism have argued that protests should no longer go ahead as they have no legitimate aim.
On Saturday thousands of pro-Palestine protesters gathered along Victoria Embankment to the sound of drums, ahead of a demonstration to mark two years of the war in Gaza.
Stalls were selling keffiyehs and outside Embankment station people were handing out placards that said ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’, ‘it’s not a crime to act against genocide’ and ‘Starmer has blood on his hands, free Palestine’.
Controversial signs spotted among marchers included the slogan ‘globalise the intifada’.
Other signs include a cartoon of Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu, with a Nazi swastika drawn across it, and several appearing to compare the Israeli Prime Minister to Adolf Hitler.
A leaflet has also been handed out by the Socialist Worker, entitled: Palestine resistance, revolution and the struggle for freedom. It includes a section on the banned terrorist organisation Hamas.
People pass Westminster as they take part in a Palestine Solidarity Campaign march from Victoria Embankment to Downing Street
A sign held by a protester depicts Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu next to a picture of Adolf Hitler with the caption: ‘Same evil’
People attend a pro-Palestine protest in central London on Saturday afternoon
People hold signs reading ‘Stop the genocide’ as they protest in support of Palestinians today
A woman holds a sign that reads: ‘I say no to genocide and no to anti-Semitism’ as she joins pro-Palestine protesters
Pro-Palestine activists cross Westminster Bridge on Saturday, October 11
Pro-Palestine protesters gather in central London on Saturday afternoon as they march towards Whitehall
Protesters are seen on Waterloo Bridge as they take part in a Palestine Solidarity Campaign march in central London
A pro-Palestine protester holds a sign depicting Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump with a swastika
Thousands gathered on Victoria Embankment in central London ahead of the pro-Palestine march to Whitehall
Protesters chanted: ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’.
A large stationary crowd of counter-protesters waving Israeli and English flags blared loud music as they faced pro-Palestinian protesters passing from Waterloo Bridge onto the Strand.
A man with a megaphone declared the pro-Palestinian group to be ‘animals’, adding: ‘They are all Jew haters’.
The group had a deafening loud speaker that blared heavy rock metal music that included the lyrics ‘you can stick your Palestine up your hole’.
The song also said ‘with your twisted goals, we will bleed for your lies’, referenced Islamic State, and said ‘(we are) sick of all your burning hate’. It ended with the line ‘you’re not welcome anymore’, before someone on the megaphone shouted ‘Shalom losers’.
A blue Trump ‘make America great again’ flag was flown at the front of the counter-protest, as well as several Union flags.
Earlier at around 12:45pm, police ushered away multiple people carrying placards that said ‘we stand with Britain’s Jews’, taking them out of the crowd of pro-Palestine protesters after they managed to infiltrate the march.
Shouts of ‘shame’ and ‘free Palestine’ came loudly from the pro-Palestine crowd gathered along Victoria Embankment, which at that point numbered in the tens of thousands.
‘A small group of counter protesters breached their conditions by demonstrating at the form up point of the Palestine Coalition protest. This led to a scuffle between several individuals from the two groups.
‘Officers were quickly on the scene to separate those involved, making a small number of arrests,’ the Met later said in post on X.
People stage a protest to demand the British government to lift its ban on Palestine Action in Trafalgar Square on Saturday, October 4
Protesters unfurl a banner on Westminster Bridge as part of a demonstration organised by Defend our Juries, in support of Palestine Action in Trafalgar Square, on October 4
In Manchester, between 50 and 100 people turned out in the rain to protest in Manchester on October 4
Pro-Palestine protesters have been told they must march along this pre-agreed route before gathering in Whitehall
Counter-protesters must remain in the red area just off the Strand during today’s protest
Announcing plans for its policing this weekend, the Met made reference to recent Government proposals to give police greater powers to restrict repeat protests but said that ‘at this time, the law remains unchanged’.
The measures announced last weekend follow frequent pro-Palestinian demonstrations, including in London and Manchester last Saturday.
The Met said 492 people were arrested at last week’s protest in Trafalgar Square, with the majority on suspicion of supporting the banned terror organisation Palestine Action.
Calls for restraint had been made following the terror attack on a synagogue in Manchester on October 2 in which two people were killed, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer urging protesters to ‘respect the grief of British Jews’.
It followed scuffles between police and pro-Palestine protesters on the evening of the attack after supporters of a flotilla headed to Gaza gathered in Whitehall.
Melvin Cravitz, 66, and Adrian Daulby, 53, were killed following the attack outside Heaton Park Congregation Synagogue in Crumpsall, Manchester on October 2, carried out by Islamic extremist Jihad Al-Shamie.
Greater Manchester Police said that one of the deceased men was shot by officers, adding a second victim sustained a non-life threatening gunshot wound.
In the wake of the attack, the Met had also urged organisers to call off the plans, with Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley saying policing the protest would mean drawing officers away from communities ‘at a time when they are needed most’.
The demonstration in support of Palestine Action went ahead, with human rights campaigner Sir Jonathon Porritt saying protesters should not be asked to ‘give up on our right to stand up for those who are being devastated by an ongoing, real-time genocide in Gaza’.
On Thursday, around 2,000 protesters gathered outside Downing Street to mark a week since the synagogue attack.
At the protest, Gideon Falter, chief executive of the Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: ‘This is a Jewish community that has clamoured for two years in the face of mounting hate.’
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has said repeated large-scale protests had caused ‘considerable fear’ for the Jewish community.
Police scuffle with Pro-Palestine protesters at the south end of Whitehall following a protest in Parliament square on Thursday, October 2
Police were seen scuffling with protesters at the south end of Whitehall following a protest in Parliament Square on the day of the terror attack
Ben Jamal, PSC director, said the group will ‘never stop’ supporting Palestinians to ‘achieve a free Palestine’.
Of the planned protest this weekend, he said: ‘For two years we’ve seen Israel commit a no holds barred genocide with the political and military support of successive UK governments.
‘In response, a community of resistance in this country has responded with an historic show of solidarity – actively and intensively campaigning, day in day out, to demand politicians, public bodies and corporations end their complicity with Israel’s crimes.
‘This is a movement supported by millions of people in this country and around the world who want freedom and justice for Palestine.
‘That work will go on. Because we know Israel is capable of breaking the ceasefire at any time, as it has done on every previous occasion. And we know this ceasefire based on (US President Donald) Trump’s plan does nothing to address the root causes of Israeli occupation and colonisation of Palestine, and its system of apartheid against Palestinians. It also does nothing to hold those responsible for genocide to account.
‘The rights of the Palestinian people are enshrined under international law – they are inviolable and non-negotiable. They will never give up those rights, and we will never stop supporting them to achieve a free Palestine.’
The Israeli military said on Friday that the ceasefire agreement came into effect at noon local time (10am BST).
The pause in the two-year war in the Middle East follows Hamas agreeing to release the remaining hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
News of the ceasefire agreement came just two days after the second anniversary of October 7, the attacks by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel.