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MORE THAN 70 pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested yesterday in London’s Trafalgar Square on suspicion of breaching protest conditions after demonstrators broke through a police line as they marched from a rally in Whitehall.
Saturday’s Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) protest was adjusted to be a static rally after police curtailed organisers’ plans for a march past the BBC and near a synagogue.
But 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.
The Metropolitan Police warned the group to disperse or face arrest, later announcing 77 people had been arrested – the highest number over more than 20 national PSC protests since October 2023.
Some 65 had been detained for a breach of conditions, five for public order offences, two for obstructing police, one for supporting a proscribed organisation, one for inciting racial hatred, one for common assault, one for assault on an emergency worker and one for sexual assault.
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 co-ordinated 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.
“Investigations are now under way and we will make every effort to bring prosecutions against those we identify.”
One masked activist stood on top of a police car waving a Palestinian flag after protesters breached the police line.
Members of the public found themselves caught up in the demonstration.
One person who asked a police officer why people could not move was told: “Because it’s an illegal march at the moment.”
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Campaign Against Antisemitism described the scenes as “a dark day for London”, adding: “Frontline officers acquitted themselves superbly in the face of extremely challenging circumstances, making numerous arrests across central London, but why had they been put in such a dangerous position by their superiors?
“The Met’s commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, is learning what happens when you bend over backwards to accommodate extremists for 15 months and then dare to impose a minor restriction.
“Police authorised a static protest for activists who repeatedly declared, ‘#WeWillMarch’. The result was chaos in London.”
The Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) criticised the Met’s decision to block the march, calling it “an outrageous assault on democracy, freedom of assembly, and freedom of expression”.
“Silencing peaceful protesters who stand against genocide and in solidarity with the oppressed is not only undemocratic but shameful,” MAB said in a statement.
Campaign group Youth Demand said three of its supporters were arrested on suspicion of breaching conditions after they stood outside the BBC with signs – one of them reading: “Can I protest here?”
At the rally, Corbyn said there would be “a lot more demonstrations”, adding: “This ceasefire is obviously a step forward in the sense that the killing will stop.
“But even since it was announced 100 more people have been killed in Gaza. More people have been arrested on the West Bank and the occupation of the West Bank continues.”
Corbyn, who now sits as an Independent MP for Islington North, went on: “Our demands are also demands on the Government of this country … The International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice have met and decided in terms that Netanyahu is a war criminal and should be arrested and that acts of a genocidal nature have been committed by the IDF in Gaza.
“That means that those countries that supply the weapons that commit those war crimes are themselves knowingly complicit in war crimes against the Palestinian people.”
Before Saturday, the Met denied putting a “ring of steel” around BBC’s Broadcasting House as the force said officers would be posted nearby after preventing plans by protesters targeting the BBC to gather in Portland Place.
The force blocked the march from gathering there because of Broadcasting House’s close proximity to a synagogue and the risk the protest could cause “serious disruption” to the Jewish holy day, as congregants attend Shabbat services.
The protest was adjusted to be a static rally in Whitehall instead.
After the rally, the Community Security Trust, which aims to provide safety to Jewish people, thanked the Metropolitan Police on X for “ensuring the community could attend Shabbat services peacefully today”.
Labour Home Secretary Yvette Cooper shared the post, and said: “Everyone should be able to worship in peace.
“(The Met) have my support in ensuring that synagogues were not disrupted today.”
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