“Allegations of Police Misconduct During Pro-Palestine Protest Despite Gaza Ceasefire; 77 Arrested”

A group of police officers have been accused of manhandling a ‘pregnant’ woman during a pro-Palestine protest this afternoon in central London.

Today in London, amid thousands of pro-Palestine protesters, police arrested 77 individuals. Some of the protesters were seen carrying signs supporting Hamas, while others were displaying swastikas.

The Metropolitan Police reported that this arrest count is the highest they have seen and was a response to what they described as ‘the most significant escalation in criminal behavior’.

Initially beginning in Whitehall, the demonstrations escalated as protesters managed to breach police lines in what authorities described as a coordinated attempt to create disturbances.

Protesters had initially planned to rally around the Broadcasting House on Portland Place to protest alleged bias in the BBC’s coverage of the conflict in Gaza. 

A video shared online showed a woman being manhandled by police as they take her away.

As officers took her away, other protestors were heard shouting ‘shame’ and ‘she has a baby’.

A spokeswoman for the Met said there was ‘no record of any pregnant women in our custody as a result of the march’.

It comes as thousands of demonstrators, including former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and the party’s former shadow chancellor John McDonnell, marched towards Trafalgar Square from Whitehall after speeches were made at the rally.

Protesters met a line of police officers and eventually broke through, with those who made it to the square later finding themselves being held in one corner.

Commander Adam Slonecki, who led the policing operation, said: ‘We could not have been clearer about the conditions in place. Protesters were to remain in Whitehall with no march towards the BBC.

‘Our relationship with protest organisers has to be based on trust and good faith. If they say they will act responsibly and lawfully we need to be able to know those are genuine assurances.

‘That is why it was so deeply disappointing to see a deliberate effort, involving organisers of the demonstration, to breach the conditions and attempt to march out of Whitehall.

‘Officers responded bravely and decisively, ensuring they got no further than Trafalgar Square and certainly nowhere near their target.

‘I am quite confident this was a coordinated breach with the intention being to reach the BBC at Portland Place in defiance of the conditions. There is video footage of one of the organisers clearly inciting the crowd to join a march and one of the organisations involved has released a statement this evening confirming as much.

‘At the same time as the group was attempting to force its way past police lines, camera crews were seen arriving in Portland Place. It is unlikely that the timing was simply a coincidence.

‘We are in possession of footage from officers’ body worn cameras, from CCTV and from social media. We know who was involved in leading the movement of so many people through police lines. Investigations are now underway and we will make every effort to bring prosecutions against those we identify.’

Officers explained how initially the demonstration was peaceful despite several arrests of public order offences.

Around 3pm, a group of protests at the north end of WHitehall was joined by a larger crowd, which police say was made of around 1,000 people.

The group then breached a line of police officers and moved toward the north west corner of Square, where they were stopped by another line of officers and two police vans.

Officers arrested one of the protest organisers who had been leading the group.

Despite police warning them to leave the area, the group continued to try to leave the square through alternative routes and were eventually arrested.

According to the police, 65 of the arrests were for breach of conditions, five were public order offences, two for obstructing justice, and the rest were for support for a proscribed organisation, inciting racial hatred, common assault,assault on an emergency worker and sexual assault.’ 

Over five thousand joined the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) demonstration today despite Israeli war cabinet agreeing to a deal which will establish a ceasefire in the Gaza strip from Sunday.

One sign displayed the Swastika above the Israeli flag, appearing to draw comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany, accusing both of being ‘child-killers’.

According to the government-adopted International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of anti-semitism, ‘drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis’ is anti-semitic.

Other anti-semitic signs included those displaying support for Hamas a proscribed terror group, and those referring to conspiracy theories suggesting ‘Zionist control’ of the government and the media.

The Met Police have made eight arrests for offences including support for proscribed organisations. 

A man was arrested on suspicion of holding a placard suggesting support for banned organisations, while four people were arrested on suspicion of public order offences and three others on suspicion of breaching conditions put in place for the protest. 

One of the conditions prevents anyone involved in the protest from entering a specific area around Portland Place. 

Protesters held signs that read ‘Gaza. Stop the massacre’ and ‘Stop arming Israel’, with a large group of people having marched from Trafalgar Square holding a banner that said ‘Labour, Tories, BBC. You show Russia’s crimes but hide Israel’s. Why?’ 

Many of the protesters at the demonstration carried signs criticising the BBC and suggesting Israeli influence over the broadcaster. 

A masked protester wearing a Celtic football tracksuit was seen being handcuffed by police and escorted away from the PSC rally in Whitehall, with a large group following with megaphones and chanting: ‘Let him go.’

Also at Saturday’s protest, a woman was laid on the ground as a group of police officers appeared to be detaining her, prompting a large crowd to surround the officers and shout ‘you’re a disgrace’, ‘shame on you’ and ‘let her go’.

A minor scuffle broke out as police attempted to push protesters away before officers took the woman behind some barriers while people continued to chant ‘let her go’.

Taking to X, the Met Police wrote: ‘Officers are actively looking at banners and placards to spot where people cross the line from political speech into criminality.’

The force added that a woman had been arrested on Friday for inciting others to breach the force’s restrictions.

A 61-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of inciting others to breach Public Order Act conditions after she was allegedly heard at a rally on January 10 encouraging other protesters to do so, police said.

The Met has now added that around 20-30 people who breached the conditions in Trafalgar Square are being arrested.

The Met said further investigations into other allegations of inciting people to breach conditions are ongoing. 

Prior to the protest, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan said more than 1,100 officers were due to be deployed, with 200 coming from other forces. 

Questioned on whether the Met was putting a ring of steel around Broadcasting House, he said: ‘I wouldn’t describe it as a ring of steel.

‘What I would describe it as is a visible presence of officers in and around the BBC/Portland Place area and surrounding streets.

‘Firstly, their role is to engage with people, make sure people understand the conditions that are around there, and generally do their policing duties as they would do every day.

‘If anyone is considering breaching those conditions, we have brought officers in from other forces, eight other forces, to assist – so we have got significant forces to enforce any breaches of conditions.’

Having ‘considered the likely impact of the PSC’s plans’, the Met Police announced on Thursday it would use its powers under the Public Order Act to prevent the demonstrators gathering in Portland Place and nearby area.

Police have powers under the Act to insisted the route of a protest march should be altered to prevent ‘intimidation, serious public disorder, serious damage to property or serious disruption to the life of the community’.

In a statement, the police said it had considered the ‘cumulative impact’ of regular protests over a prolonged period that have taken place on Saturdays and ‘on numerous occasions’ in the vicinity of synagogues.

The force said it acknowledged the planned protest had been ‘a cause of increased concern for many Jewish Londoners’ and the it could have brought ‘serious disruption.’ 

On Thursday, senior Conservative MP Bob Blackman said those who defy police orders by deliberately gathering outside a synagogue should face the ‘full force of the law’.

The PSC described the Met’s conditions as ‘repressive’, saying: ‘We reiterate our call for the police to lift the repressive restrictions they have imposed and allow us to march.

‘If they continue to refuse to do so and prevent us from marching, we will rally on Whitehall in protest.’

In a statement, Campaign Against Antisemitism claimed pro-Palestine marches posed a ‘threat’ to synagogues.

A spokesperson said: ‘It is shameful that the Met has refused to act on that threat all this time and is mustering a show of strength only now that it appears that the war might be ending.

‘The least that it can do is see this tokenistic gesture through and finally limit these marches to static protests, as we have been urging for over a year.’

In its own statement, charity Community Security Trust, which aims to provide safety to Jewish people, said of the planned protest: ‘We have been working closely with the police and with affected Jewish community locations to put sufficient security in place so that services and other activities can go ahead in safety tomorrow.’