Thousands turn out for London Palestine march despite ceasefire agreement

— Stop The Hate UK (@StopTheHate_UK) October 11, 2025

Of the 14 arrests made, seven were for breaching conditions under the Public Order Act, while others were for supporting a proscribed group and affray, the Met said.

It appears that some pro-Israel counter protesters were among those arrested, though the Met did not specify an exact number.

The trigger that prompted riot police to intervene was the appearance of a banner on Hungerford bridge near Embankment station that read: “Globalise the intifada is a call to murder Jews.” When anti-Israel protesters attempted to pull it down, the group that had unfurled the banner, comprising masked men, fended them off, leading officers to race across the bridge before arresting some of the pro-Israel demonstrators.

According to the Times, the group of masked men carrying the banner was not affiliated with the official pro-Israel counter-protest approved by the Met.

“A small group of counter-protesters breached their conditions by demonstrating at the form-up point of the Palestine Coalition protest,” the Met said on X. “This led to a scuffle between several individuals from the two groups. Officers were quickly on the scene to separate those involved, making a small number of arrests.”

Capturing the mood of many, Jews and non-Jews alike, the Campaign Against Antisemitism suggested the intention of some of those who turned out was not to protest for peace in the Middle East and an end to the war, given the peace deal brokered by Donald Trump, but to call for the annihilation of Israel.

“There is a ceasefire now, but these marches were never really about a ceasefire. The marchers say that they are ‘anti-Zionist’, but this was never really about ‘Zionists’,” the CAA said.

“A week after Jews were murdered at a synagogue in Manchester on Yom Kippur, those brave and decent people daring to stand with us face abuse and arrest on the streets of London, because the ‘Free Palestine’ mobs cannot stand the sight of them.

“These are hate marches, pure and simple.”

Yesterday’s demonstration, organised by a coalition of groups led by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), is the 32nd national demonstration in support of Palestine since Hamas invaded Israel on October 7 2023.

Addressing the crowd at the rally that followed the march, PSC director Ben Jamal declared the group would "never stop" supporting Palestinians and that Israel was "capable of breaking the ceasefire at any time". He also claimed that the peace plan did "nothing to address the root causes" of the Israel-Palestine conflict.

The march came just a day after first phase of the long-awaited peace deal was approved by the Israeli government, and several days after Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that his government would crack down on pro-Palestinian protest rhetoric.