Hundreds of thousands of people marched through central London in a huge pro-Palestinian demonstration on Saturday, a tense day in which the police battled with a small right-wing group to keep order on some city streets.
The large march in support of the Palestinian cause coincided with Armistice Day, when Britain commemorates those who fought in World War I and subsequent conflicts, and followed days of debate about whether the protest should be allowed to go ahead.
A spokesperson for London’s Metropolitan Police Service said by phone on Saturday afternoon that about 300,000 people had attended the march, making it one of the largest protests in Britain in recent years.
Earlier in the day, a right-wing group clashed with the police near the Cenotaph, a war memorial close to the prime minister’s official residence, shortly after a two-minute silence was held to mark Remembrance Day. Videos showed some people bursting through a cordoned-off area.
By late Saturday, the police said that 126 people had been arrested.
“The extreme violence from the right-wing protesters toward the police today was extraordinary and deeply concerning,” the police said in a statement, noting that a group had assembled early on “stating they were there to protect monuments, but some were already intoxicated, aggressive and clearly looking for confrontation.”
They directed abuse at officers protecting the Cenotaph, the police said, and were “largely football hooligans from across the U.K. and spent most of the day attacking or threatening officers who were seeking to prevent them being able to confront the main march.”
Tensions were running high over the march after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who is responsible for policing in the country, argued this past week that its timing was “provocative and disrespectful.” Ms. Braverman called for the march to be banned and caused a political furor by writing an opinion article — which the prime minister disowned — that accused the police of bias over their handling of protests.
On Saturday evening, Mr. Sunak made it clear that he condemned both the violence of far-right groups and statements of fringe groups that he said were antisemitic or had shown sympathy for Hamas.
“The despicable actions of a minority of people undermine those who have chosen to express their views peacefully,” he said in a statement. He said he planned to meet with London’s top police official in the coming days.
“What we have seen today does not defend the honor of our armed forces, but utterly disrespects them,” he said, alluding to Armistice Day events. That is true, he said, for far-right “thugs attacking police officers and trespassing on the Cenotaph, and it is true for those singing antisemitic chants and brandishing pro-Hamas signs and clothing on today’s protest.”
The police later said in a statement that nobody was able to reach the monument itself, “which was protected at all times.”
On the past several Saturdays, tens of thousands of people have marched in London to denounce the rising civilian death toll in Gaza, which Israel has bombarded in response to the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attacks on Israel.
People traveled by bus and train from around Britain to attend the latest march, which began at Hyde Park in central London and then made its way to the U.S. Embassy. As the event got underway, people in the park waved large Palestinian flags in the bright sunshine and carried placards reading, “End the siege” and “Cease-fire now.”
The demonstrators represented a broad cross-section of the population: families with babies in strollers, teenagers chatting and laughing with flags draped over their shoulders, an older man who walked slowly but joined the mass of people as it progressed down the park’s main avenue.
Mary Robertson, 39, had come from her home in South London with her partner and 2-year-old daughter. “We want to show Palestinians that we see what’s happening to them,” she said, carrying her daughter while her partner pushed a stroller decorated with a sign reading, “Armistice in Gaza Now.”
“What’s happening in Gaza is so shocking — nothing feels OK if you’re not doing something,” Ms. Robertson added.
The mood was calm and cheerful early in the afternoon, though a helicopter hovered overhead and police officers were scattered on the edges of the crowd and in nearby subway stations. Every so often, someone would lead a chant of “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” although not everyone joined in.
Nazish Aqayyum, a doctor and mother of four from Birmingham, had wrapped a Mickey Mouse toy belonging to her youngest son in a white sheet that she had painted with red stains to mimic blood. “The Palestinians are having to see babies in sheets all the time,” she said. “So I’ve come without a placard, with this. Everyone with kids can relate to it. I just want a cease-fire.”
The Metropolitan Police Service said that about 2,000 officers were on duty across central London throughout the weekend, double the usual number, as officials feared that violent elements, including from the far right, would surface on the fringes of the march.
The police acknowledged that while the large-scale pro-Palestinian march “did not see the sort of physical violence carried out by the right wing, we know that for London’s Jewish communities, whose fears and concerns we absolutely recognize, the impact of hate crime and in particular antisemitic offenses is just as significant.”
Hours after the demonstration ended, the police noted that they had detained a breakaway group of around 150 people who were firing fireworks and wearing face coverings.
ommy Robinson, an anti-Islam agitator, was in London on Saturday and urged supporters to take to the streets, calling for an “uncontrollable mass of men who are willing to stand for their country.” Mr. Robinson had been barred from X, formerly known as Twitter, but has since been reinstated.
The police had allowed the main march to proceed despite resistance from some political circles.
Under British law, the police can apply for a ban if there is a risk of serious public disorder, but Britain’s most senior police officer said that threshold had not been met in this case. “The laws created by Parliament are clear,” Mark Rowley, the Met Police’s chief commissioner, said in a statement on Tuesday. “There is no absolute power to ban protest; therefore there will be a protest this weekend.”
After meeting with Mr. Rowley and seeking assurances that the police would safeguard the remembrance events, Mr. Sunak issued a statement saying he accepted that the march would go ahead. But the following day, Ms. Braverman wrote an opinion article that accused the police of bias and described attendees of previous protests as “hate marchers,” “Islamists” and “mobs,” even though past demonstrations had been mostly peaceful.
Mr. Sunak’s spokesperson said that Downing Street was investigating the circumstances surrounding the publication of the article, which drew fierce criticism.
Ben Jamal, the director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, one of the British groups that has organized the weekly rallies, called Ms. Braverman’s language “reckless” and “deeply irresponsible.” Mr. Jamal, who is of Palestinian and British descent, said the group had been in touch with the police since the earliest demonstration because of the number of protesters involved, “and we need to know we can do that safely.”
On Saturday, some at the march said that they had been motivated by the home secretary’s comments.
“I’m here partly because of Suella Braverman,” said Nick Hann, 67.
“I just felt a sense of outrage that we were all being branded as a mob,” he said. “It’s absurd and divisive and clearly an attempt to create tension.”
He carried a cardboard placard that read, “I’m part of the hate mob marching for peace.”
After the counterprotesters’ scuffles with the police on Saturday, some politicians and commentators denounced Ms. Braverman’s statements as divisive. Humza Yousaf, Scotland’s first minister, called for her resignation, saying on X that her position as home secretary was “untenable.”
Sadiq Khan, the Labour mayor of London, wrote on the same platform that “the scenes of disorder we witnessed by the far right at the Cenotaph are a direct result of the home secretary’s words,” adding, “The police’s job has been made much harder.”
Megan Specia reports on Britain, Ireland and the Ukraine war for The Times. She is based in London. More about Megan Specia
Stephen Castle is London correspondent, writing widely about Britain, including the country’s politics and relationship with Europe.
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