Two pro-Palestinian protesters arrested during Downing St demonstration

Two pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested as antisemitism campaigners demonstrated outside Downing Street to mark a week since the terror attack on a synagogue in Manchester.

The Metropolitan Police said the Campaign Against Antisemitism protest, which saw about 2,000 people gather bearing Israeli and Union flags and holding their phone lights in the air, took place largely without incident before dispersing.

Among the placards on show was one bearing the words: “British Jews slaughtered on your watch Starmer”, while others carried ones reading: “Will you defend Britain’s Jews? Prove it”.

The two protesters who refused to leave the area were arrested for breaching public order conditions imposed on Whitehall in central London to combat plans by pro-Palestinians to gather in the same area at the same time, sparking fears of potential clashes.

Gideon Falter, chief executive of Campaign Against Antisemitism and one of five speakers who passionately addressed the crowd, questioned why it had taken the killing of British Jews for politicians to start paying attention.

“Here we are two years after 7th October, mourning the deaths of Adrian and Melvin whilst others sit in hospital praying for their loved ones’ recoveries,” he said of Melvin Cravitz and Adrian Daulby who were killed in Manchester.

“This is a Jewish community that has clamoured for two years in the face of mounting hate.

“We watched as this country did nothing as people celebrated the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.

“Shame. We have been betrayed and we have been abandoned by politicians whose job it is to uphold the ways of this land.

“Why has it taken the murder of British Jews for our politicians to start to pay attention? Actions not words. We’re fed up of thoughts and prayers.”

The crowd was led in a chant of “Shame on you” as they stood facing towards No 10.

Tali, a student from London, told the PA news agency: “My perception is that it is not a safe city for me anymore.

“As a Jewish person, I have to wonder if I can walk around with my Star of David out. If I can tell people I’m Jewish. If I can say where my family’s from or where I live even.

“My perception is that I am not safe walking around. I’m not safe going on the underground myself. I’m not safe on campus myself.”

A spokesperson for the Campaign Against Antisemitism said they gathered outside Downing Street “to tell the Government that the double standards and cowardly appeasement of extremists must end”.

They added: “The hate marches must be banned, criminals and terrorist-sympathisers must be arrested and jailed, extremist professionals must be struck off, mosques that host radical preachers must face the most severe regulatory action, university students who glorify terror must be expelled, media organisations that promote antisemitic tropes must be sanctioned, and more.

“The Jewish community has been scarred forever, and Britain must never be the same again.”

Police are to be given greater powers to restrict protests by allowing them to consider the “cumulative impact” of repeated demonstrations.

The measures announced last weekend follow frequent pro-Palestinian demonstrations, including in London on Saturday, despite calls for restraint following the synagogue attack.

Almost 500 people were arrested, with the majority for supporting the banned terror organisation Palestine Action.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has said repeated large-scale protests had caused “considerable fear” for the Jewish community.

The Metropolitan Police imposed Public Order Act conditions on Thursday evening preventing anyone taking part in the pro-Palestinian protests from assembling in a specific area around Whitehall, which covers Downing Street, Parliament Square, Westminster Bridge, Whitehall, Victoria, part of Trafalgar Square, and Westminster Bridge.

The force deployed officers in the vicinity and conditions were also put in force around Great Portland Street and Portland Place due to the proximity of a nearby synagogue.