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Thousands of pro-Palestine demonstrators have marched through London to demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
The march, organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), set off from Parliament Square shortly before 1pm on Saturday and passed through Whitehall before ending at Hyde Park.
A counter-protest by pro-Israel Enough is Enough also went ahead at Pall Mall with police officers and barriers separating the two groups.
Just minutes before the march began in Parliament Square, a man was arrested for holding a placard showing a swastika, the Metropolitan Police said.
The march came after Jewish campaign group Campaign Against Antisemitism said they were cancelling a planned “Walk Together” demonstration over safety concerns.
Throughout the march, chants of “stop bombing Gaza, stop bombing children” were sung by demonstrators, some of whom held placards saying “hands off Gaza colonisers”.
Protesters appeared to walk past the pro-Israel counter demonstration peacefully – where Israeli and British flags could be seen next to banners saying “Hamas are terrorists”.
On Friday, the Campaign Against Antisemitism cancelled an event where people would have walked “where they please” after claiming it had received “numerous threats” from “hostile actors” intended to show up to meeting locations.
A spokesperson said: “The risk to the safety of those who wished to walk openly as Jews in London as part of this initiative has therefore become too great.”
It urged “concrete measures” on how the pro-Palestine marches are policed – citing concerns over antisemitic chants, placards, the glorification of terrorism and violence.
But the Met’s assistant commissioner Matt Twist said pro-Palestinian protests had “never” reached the threshold where there was a “risk of serious public disorder” and said it would police the events “without fear or favour”.
The CAA announced its Walk Together plan after its chief executive, Gideon Falter, was prevented from crossing a road near a pro-Palestinian protest by a police officer last week because he was “openly Jewish”.
Footage showed a tense, lengthy stand-off between police and Mr Falter as one Met officer described his presence as “antagonising”.
The campaigner then spoke to another officer who said if he remained in the area, he would be arrested. However, different footage appeared to show Mr Falter trying to walk in the opposite direction of the crowd – not just through it as he claimed.
After the incident, Mr Falter was critical of the Met and said there were “no-go zones for Jews”, while Scotland Yard apologised twice for the officer’s choice of words.
The Met Police said 450 arrests have been made since the pro-Palestinian marches began, with 193 of those being for antisemitic offences, the majority involving placards, chanting or expressions of hate speech.
There have also been 15 terrorism-related arrests, primarily on suspicion of supporting proscribed organisations, notably Hamas.
The cost of policing the protests – which first began in November last year – stands at approximately £38.5m, according to police.
Saturday’s demonstration was the 13th national protest organised by the PSC since its first protest on 9 October, in addition to a number of local protests.
The main protests have ranged in size from 300,000 at the highest point, to around 5-10,000 in recent months, police said.
Source: independent.co.uk
