From the Liveblog of
Sunday, November 5, 2023
London police say 29 arrested at pro-Palestinian rally, including antisemitic speaker
London’s Metropolitan Police say they arrested 29 people at a pro-Palestinian rally at Trafalgar Square.
Police say they used facial recognition technology to track down and arrest a person seen on social media making an antisemitic speech.
Two others were arrested for “displaying a banner appearing to support a proscribed organisation,” according to a statement, likely referring to Hamas, which the UK considers a terror group.
Other arrests were for “inciting racial hatred, other racially motivated crimes, violence and assaulting a police officer.”
Four officers were injured by fireworks.
Met Police Commander Karen Findlay blames the violence and racism on troublemakers at the fringes of the protest, saying most of the estimated 30,000 at the rally demonstrated peacefully.
“It is disappointing that various splinter groups were again responsible for behaviour which has no place in London and we are determined to deal with this robustly,” she says in the statement.
