Protesters carrying banners in support of Hezbollah marched through central London on Saturday, reported The Telegraph.
Police made more than a dozen arrests as tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian Arab activists demonstrated through the city to Whitehall, ahead of the first anniversary of the October 7 attacks by Hamas on southern Israel.
Among the crowd were several demonstrators holding placards and banners expressing support for the Hezbollah terrorist organization, which has launched repeated attacks on Israel in the past year.
One placard on display in the London march showed a silhouette of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was eliminated by Israel in a strike in Beirut last week, with the words “We will not abandon Palestine.”
Others declared, “Hezbollah are not terrorists” and “I love Hezbollah”, according to The Telegraph.
The banners were visible despite the Metropolitan Police’s warning on Friday that they would crack down on any displays of support for banned terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah.
As the pro-Palestinian Arab demonstrators passed the British Library, they chanted, “Yemen, Yemen make us proud. Turn another ship around” and “British Museum. Paint it red. Over 100,000 dead.”
According to The Telegraph, officers made 17 arrests, including one individual suspected of supporting a banned organization.
There were also seven arrests for public order offenses, three of which were allegedly racially aggravated.
Three people were arrested on suspicion of assaulting an emergency worker, three for alleged assault, and one for breaching a Public Order Act condition.
Reacting to the placards seen at the event, the Campaign Against Antisemitism said, “For the past year, those in power have allowed support for Hamas to run rampant on Britain’s streets week in, week out.”
“Now, it seems we are seeing the results of their inaction as anti-Israel protesters have apparently moved on to defending Hezbollah, a proscribed antisemitic genocidal terror group,” it added.
“With images like these surfacing online from today’s so-called ‘peace march,’ it is clear that one year on from Oct 7, Sir Mark Rowley’s Metropolitan Police force has enabled Jew-hatred and support for terrorists to be normalized on our streets. Anyone professing support for Hezbollah or Hamas should be dealt with swiftly and must face the full force of the law, not walking around with impunity,” the statement said.
Antisemitic incidents have been on the rise in London, as they have in other places around the world, since Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7 of last year.
In May, a woman carrying a large knife was arrested in Stamford Hill, north London.
The woman allegedly told a Jewish man that he is a "provocation" before adding, "You people, you Jewish...all the trouble you’re creating in the world."
A month earlier, a Jewish man was attacked by four men in Stamford Hill. According to the Stamford Hill Shomrim, a Jewish civilian watch organization, the four individuals approached the Jewish man, threatened him, and demanded he get into the trunk of their car.
The incident ended when the victim said he was calling the police and other vehicles approached.
Days earlier, two men were arrested at a pro-Palestinian Arab march in London. One of the men was taken into custody for carrying a swastika emblazoned placard and another for allegedly making racist remarks towards counter-protesters, the Metropolitan Police said.