Over 20 anti-Israel demonstrators arrested in London for violating protest restrictions

Police have arrested more than 20 protesters at a Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) protest in central London after they violated police orders meant to contain the demonstration.

Police had ordered organizers to keep the protest confined to the area of Whitehall, away from nearby Portland Place and Russell Square, where the Central Synagogue is located.

However, protesters carrying signs with antisemitic messages violated the orders and proceeded toward Trafalgar Square, where 20-30 were arrested.

For more than a year, PSC has conducted weekly marches from near the BBC’s Broadcasting House to Whitehall, bringing antisemitic rhetoric and threats to the door of London’s Central Synagogue. These marches are timed to threaten Jewish families leaving the synagogue after Shabbat services, the non-profit organization Campaign Against Antisemitism says.

During the past week, the Metropolitan Police ordered PSC to keep its weekly march confined to the Whitehall area alone to avoid confrontation. However, protest organizers threatened to flout the order, saying on X, “If they refuse to do so and prevent us from marching, we will rally on Whitehall in protest.”

“This is a dark day for London,” Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAM) says on X following the protest. “Not only did we see the usual antisemitic bile and open support for Jew-hating terrorist organizations to which our nation’s capital has become accustomed, but extremists repeatedly breached the modest restrictions imposed by the police on today’s protest.”

“What happened today was not a case of a few bad apples. It is time that the organizers of the protest, several of whom appeared to be involved in trying to break the police lines and defy the conditions, finally be arrested and their organizations’ future demonstrations must be contained as static rallies,” CAM says.

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