Up to 100,000 people at pro-Palestine demo
Up to 100,000 people participated in a pro-Palestinian protest through the government district in London. Authorities had previously called for consideration of the pain of the Jewish community.
Tens of thousands of people gathered in London for a pro-Palestinian rally. The demonstration started from Marble Arch near Hyde Park and moved towards the government district of Whitehall. The police estimated the number of participants to be “up to 100,000”.
Photos showed people with Palestinian flags. Signs read, for example, “Stop the War on Gaza” and “Free Palestine.” The demonstrators also called for an end to the blockade of the Gaza Strip imposed by Israel after the devastating terrorist attack by the Hamas militia. The police had previously stated that violence and expressions of support for Hamas, which is banned in the UK, would not be tolerated.
The PA news agency reported that some protesters chanted the slogan “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free.” Home Secretary Suella Braverman criticized the slogan as anti-Semitic, stating that it was seen by many as a call for the destruction of Israel. The phrase refers to the area of Israel from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. According to the PA, Jewish organizations asked the judiciary to clarify whether chanting the slogan is a criminal offense.
Largely without incidents
The British authorities had previously urged the protesters not to lose sight of the pain and concern of the Jewish community. According to the London police, the number of reported anti-Semitic crimes in October increased 13-fold compared to the previous year. Reports of anti-Muslim crimes more than doubled. The police reported isolated disruptions and cases of hate speech during the rally, but overall, the protest proceeded largely without incidents.
The protests took place two weeks after the terrorist attack on Israel. The militant Islamic Hamas infiltrated Israeli border towns on October 7 and carried out a massacre that claimed 1,400 lives. Over 200 people were taken hostage in the Gaza Strip.
Israel imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip and has been targeting targets there since then. According to the Gaza Strip’s health ministry, controlled by Hamas, approximately 4,400 people have died as a result.
Protests in several German cities as well
People also demonstrated for the Palestinians in several German cities today. In some cases, anti-Israel and anti-Semitic slogans were chanted. In Berlin, the police stopped a demonstration march due to anti-Israel calls according to their own information. The rally was brought to a halt “to inform the organizers as well as the participants through our loudspeakers that anti-Israeli remarks will no longer be tolerated,” the police said.
The Dusseldorf police reported an “intense operational activity” with several demonstrations and thousands of participants. Several criminal complaints were filed during a gathering of around 6,900 participants, “including incitement to hatred, incitement to crimes, violations of the assembly law, and insult of police officers.”
Rallies were also reported in Nuremberg, Munster, Kassel, and Hanover. According to police reports, these demonstrations were all peaceful.