The authorities allowed the main protest to pass within feet of a hundreds-strong static counter-protest in Piccadilly Circus.
Organised by Enough Is Enough, the counter-demonstration was in part to call attention to what protesters said was inadequate policing of “repeated” hate crimes at the Saturday protests, which have been taking place since soon after the Oct 7 massacres by Hamas.
Itai Gal, a spokesman for the group, said: “Unfortunately, this weekend we got all the normal slurs and death threats that we have become used to. Again, we feel we are the group being policed. It is extremely difficult to get them to take anti-Semitism seriously.”
Mr Gal said the group had asked the Metropolitan Police to use powers to force protesters to remove masks to expose those who had previously been arrested for shouting abuse.
This week, the Met said it only had the power to ban demonstrations where there was a risk of serious disorder. The force is having to police the protest on the same weekend as four Premier League football fixtures in the capital, two Wembley play-off finals and a demonstration at the Eritrean embassy.
Pro-Palestinian protesters carried placards including one depicting Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer with blue horns and Israeli flags across their mouths. One held a sign saying “Anti-Semitism is a label to silence the truth and justify evil.”
The term “intifada” has been interpreted by some as a call for violence, but others defend it as a call for solidarity with the Palestinian people.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/05/18/chants-intifada-revolution-pro-palestinian-london-protest/
