Ten arrests as opposing Israel-Palestine protests held in central London

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Ten arrests have been made amid allegations of threats to kill and the burning of an Israeli flag in central London as opposing teams staged demonstrations over Israel and Palestine, after new powers to stop “disruptive” protests got here into drive.

Around 1,000 folks assembled exterior the Home Office on Marsham Street on Friday afternoon for the annual pro-Palestine Al Quds Day march – which went to Downing Street whereas passing a major counter-protest on Parliament Square.

It comes amid an increase in tensions after Israel attacked a convoy of humanitarian employees, killing seven folks together with three Britons working with the World Central Kitchen charity to ship meals packages to folks ravenous in war-torn Gaza, the place authorities say greater than 33,000 folks have been killed since October.

Two counter-protesters had been arrested on suspicion of constructing threats to kill as the 2 demonstrations met, and a 3rd for allegedly failing to stay throughout the designated protest space, the Metropolitan Police mentioned.

Two males had been additionally arrested on suspicion of inciting racial hatred, after an Israeli flag was allegedly burned close to the stage in Richmond Terrace, reverse Downing Street.

Another man was arrested for a public order offence after he was allegedly heard to make a homophobic comment, with three individuals who allegedly tried to stop the person’s arrest detained for obstruction, Scotland Yard mentioned.

At 7pm, the march’s designated finish time, the drive mentioned Richmond Terrace was “now mostly clear” of demonstrators, including: “There has been a further arrest for an assault on an emergency worker. The officer who was assaulted is fortunately not seriously injured. “

A further two people were arrested on suspicion of inciting racial hatred, a Met spokesperson told The Independent, bringing the total number of arrests to 10.

Earlier describing the situation as “very tense” with each teams “calling each other terrorists” as the march handed by parliament sq., LBC reporter Fraser Knight urged the police rope was “doing some heavy lifting to keep the two demonstrations apart”.

“This feels very much like two opposing football teams shouting a lot of abuse at each other, but so far no obvious trouble. Just strong words,” he mentioned.

The Met mentioned pictures of placards carrying the phrases “resistance by any means necessary” had been being shared on-line, however mentioned the drive believed they had been taken throughout a proactive car cease by officers close to the march begin level.

“As a result, we don’t believe they have been distributed. Should they be displayed in the crowd, action will be taken,” the drive mentioned. But photos had been shared on social media purporting to point out a number of the placards in the gang.

More than 500 officers had been being deployed to police the march, which is organised by the Islamic Human Rights Commission and takes place on the ultimate Friday of Ramadan. It has been criticised in the previous after members flew flags of the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group and brandished indicators with allegedly antisemitic messages.

The drive mentioned it held discussions with the organisers of each demonstrations, and each had been topic to circumstances below the Public Order Act.

Commander Colin Wingrove, who led the policing operation, mentioned: “The conflict between Israel and Hamas continues to have a far reaching impact across communities including here in London. We recognise that there will be some who feel this march should not be allowed to take place at all.

“We work to the law. Parliament has determined that there are only very rare and specific circumstances when an application can be made to the home secretary for a protest to be banned. It requires a real risk of serious disorder and neither the intelligence picture nor the conversations we have had with organisers give us reason to believe that threshold will be met today.”

He added: “Our role is to police without fear or favour right up to the line of the law, but our powers do not extend to policing taste and decency, no matter our view of what is being said. Where that line into criminality is crossed, we will step in.”

One pro-Israel counter protester claimed these taking part in the Al Quds Day march had been “naive” or “brainwashed”. Efim, aged 73, mentioned Hamas ought to launch its hostages earlier than a ceasefire is put in place.

Speaking of those that thought a ceasefire settlement ought to be reached first, he mentioned: “I think they are naive. If it was their family members, I think they would join our side.”

Asked about allegations of antisemitism made in opposition to the march, Abid, a 45-year-old pro-Palestinian protester, mentioned: “We have Jews actually participating in the protest. You can ask any person from any background, any religion – this isn’t a religious issue, it’s a human issue.”

He added: “Our message to the government in the UK is to stop cooperating with a regime who’s involved in a genocide. The whole world is talking about it. Countries in Europe have already started to cut the supplies, all supplies, to Israel, so why can’t our government stop supplying them arms?

“They are using the arms and they’re killing their own people, they are killing our own people, they’ve killed aid workers, three of them were from UK.”

In a joint letter to Met Commissioner Mark Rowley on Wednesday, the IHRC and different pro-Palestinian teams accused the Met of “politically-driven policing”, saying the drive had “regularly abused its legal powers to harass pro-Palestine protestors”.

On Saturday, the Met made 4 arrests, together with one on suspicion of a terrorism-related offence, at a pro-Palestinian protest in central London, which noticed greater than 200,000 folks participate.

Additional reporting by PA