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A pro-Palestine protest march in central London has ended with the highest number of arrests in a single anti-Israel demonstration since October 2023, when the war in Gaza broke out.
After an order was made banning any movement towards the BBC's offices in the capital, police detained 77 demonstrators after disorder at a rally in Whitehall on Saturday.
The protest was organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), with action taken after the Metropolitan Police ordered the group to disperse or face arrest.
A demonstration targeting the BBC had been scheduled for Saturday afternoon with a gathering in Portland Place but it was blocked by police over concerns about proximity to a synagogue. The Met had imposed restrictions under the Public Order Act after an intervention from Britain’s Chief Rabbi, who raised concerns that worshippers at the synagogue could be harassed during Shabbat.
A Scotland Yard spokeswoman told The National that conditions had been put in place for the march to remain static in the Whitehall area but intelligence was received that some protesters were still going to head towards the BBC headquarters.
“We have footage of the demonstrators stating that they intended to go to the BBC,” she said. A specific area of London covering the broadcaster’s headquarters had been authorised by police a no-go zone for the demonstration.
The spokeswoman also disclosed concerns that the march would have passed near to the Central Synagogue London, which is also in the zone.
Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, 75, and his shadow chancellor John McDonnell, 73, agreed to be interviewed under caution by police on Sunday afternoon, the BBC reported.
The pair were at the demonstration but both stated that they did not break the public order ruling.
Mr Corbyn tweeted that the police reports were not “an accurate description of events at all”.
“I was part of a delegation of speakers, who wished to peacefully carry and lay flowers in memory of children in Gaza who had been killed,” he added. “This was facilitated by the police. We did not force our way through.”
Mr McDonnell also tweeted that they did not “force our way through” and simply laid flowers in Trafalgar Square.
The demonstrators were arrested in connection a range of offences from inciting racial hatred, assault on an emergency worker and breaching conditions as 1,100 officers were on hand to keep order.
“We have policed more than 20 national protests organised by the PSC since October 2023 and this is the highest number of arrests we have seen, in response to the most significant escalation in criminality,” said Commander Adam Slonecki, who led the policing operation.
The Muslim Association of Britain criticised the police decision to ban the march from Portland Place, calling it “an outrageous assault on democracy, freedom of assembly and freedom of expression”.
Ben Jamal, the PSC director, claimed his group had been confronted with “extreme repression” and said police were unduly influenced by the Board of Deputies of British Jews.
“Until two days ago, they were trying to impose on us a march endorsed by the British Board of Deputies,” he said on social media. “We decide where we protest, not Zionist groups that have supported Israel’s genocide.”
