The Jewish lawyer who halted the pro-Palestinian Al Quds rally for an hour by refusing to move his wheelchair said he did so to protest against Hezbollah flags and "inflammatory rhetoric".

Thousands of demonstrators gathered outside the Saudi Arabian embassy in central London on Sunday, where they flew flags of Lebanese Islamist group Hezbollah.

Their march towards Downing Street was due to begin at 5pm but demonstrators were unable to progress after Mark Lewis, who suffers from multiple sclerosis (MS), refused to move.

Mr Lewis told the JC that he staged the protest in response to the display of Hezbollah flags at the Al Quds rally, as well as the “inflammatory rhetoric” heard at the march.

The lawyer attended the counter-demonstration with a contingent from the UK branch of the Herut political party, a right-wing Zionist party founded by Menachem Begin.

He told the JC that he halted the demonstration for “about an hour”, before being threatened with arrest and then forcibly moved to the side of the road by a police officer.

He said: “The problem is the government and the Home Secretary for allowing terrorists on our streets. I take exception with the Hezbollah flags and the inflammatory speeches calling for the destruction of a country.

“Hopefully we got the message across. Enough is enough – we need to ban terrorists marching through our streets. 2018 has to be the last year, otherwise there will be an even bigger counter-protest next year.”

Mr Lewis is best known as the media lawyer who took on Rupert Murdoch over phone hacking. He also featured in a Channel 4 documentary last year which followed his participation in a clinical trial for MS treatment at Israel’s Hadassah hospital.

The march eventually progressed towards Piccadilly Circus. Demonstrators clashed with pro-Israel counter-demonstrators and far right nationalists.

Al Quds Day, named for the Arabic word for Jerusalem, is an anti-Israel day of protest held around the time of the final Friday of Ramadan, first initiated by Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979.

Attendees can fly the Hezbollah flag because the group's political wing is not banned as a terror group, only its military wing is. The British Government has not acted to fully proscribe Hezbollah, despite calls to do so.