Source: United Kingdom London Metropolitan Police
Officers have arrested 77 people during a Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) protest that saw a coordinated effort to breach Public Order Act conditions and cause serious disruption to Londoners.
Discussions between the officers and the PSC had been ongoing for many weeks in the run up to the protest.
Conditions were first imposed last week preventing protesters forming up in the vicinity of a synagogue located a short distance from Portland Place. Further conditions were then imposed earlier this week requiring protesters to form up in Russell Square and follow a specific route to Whitehall.
On Friday it was agreed with the PSC that they would not hold a march, instead remaining in Whitehall for a static protest. This was enforced by further conditions, with all previous conditions remaining in place.
Commander Adam Slonecki, who led the policing operation, said: “We have policed more than 20 national protests organised by the PSC since October 2023.
“This is the highest number of arrests we have seen, in response to the most significant escalation in criminality.
“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 coordinated 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.
“We are in possession of footage from officers’ body worn cameras, from CCTV and from social media. We know who was involved in leading the movement of so many people through police lines. Investigations are now underway and we will make every effort to bring prosecutions against those we identify.”
The demonstration in Whitehall began largely without incident. There were a number of arrests for public order offences, one for displaying a placard that suggested support for Hamas and Hezbollah and another for pairing a swastika with the Israeli flag.
One protester who entered the conditioned area around Portland Place and refused to leave was also arrested.
However, shortly after 15:00hrs a group that had been present at the north end of Whitehall for some time was joined by a much larger group likely numbering more than 1,000 people.
A line of police officers was breached with the groups making a beeline for the north west corner of Trafalgar Square where they were prevented from going further by another line of officers and two police vans.
At that point officers intervened to arrest one of the organisers of the demonstration who was leading the group from the front. He remains in custody.
Clear warnings were given and many people who had been involved chose to act responsibly, turning back and dispersing.
A persistent group intent on continuing to breach the conditions tried to leave Trafalgar Square by other routes but were ultimately contained by officers. More than 60 of that group were arrested.
Thankfully no officers were seriously injured during today’s protest, however three were spat at as they intervened earlier in the day to deal with an incident. They are receiving the necessary support.
A full breakdown of the arrests is below:
65 x breach of conditions
5 x public order offences
2 x obstructing police
1 x support for a proscribed organisation
1 x inciting racial hatred
1 x common assault
1 x assault on an emergency worker
1 x sexual assault