Police make 126 arrests in London as counterprotesters disrupt pro-Palestinian rally
- Missiles were thrown at officers in the Chinatown area near the Cenotaph war memorial, from which the march of about 300,000 people set off
- Police had feared trouble as the ‘National March for Palestine’ was scheduled for Armistice Day, Britain’s annual commemoration of its war dead
More than 300,000 pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched through central London on Saturday, with police arresting more than 120 people as they sought to stop far-right counterprotesters from ambushing the main rally.
Skirmishes broke out between police and the far-right groups gathered to protest against the demonstration taking place on Armistice Day, the anniversary of the end of the first world war, when Britain commemorates its war dead.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak condemned the violence seen at the Cenotaph war memorial and also attacked “Hamas sympathisers” who joined the bigger rally, “singing antisemitic chants and brandishing pro-Hamas signs and clothing on today’s protest”.
Tensions had been running high before Saturday’s march – the biggest in a series to show support for the Palestinians and call for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip – after Interior Minister Suella Braverman called them “hate marches” led by “mobs”.
London’s Metropolitan Police had refused ministerial requests to block the event, saying they did not have indications that there would be serious violence, straining relations with the government.
The scuffles between police and the far-right counterprotesters took place close to the Cenotaph war memorial earlier on Saturday, where some of the counterprotesters chanted: “We want our country back.”
Bottles were later thrown at police by members of right-wing groups in a separate incident in Chinatown, about a mile north of the war memorial, police said.