A senior police officer has declared “enough is enough” after “exhausted” officers arrested hundreds of people at a Palestine Action protest in London days after the Manchester synagogue attack.
Met Police said at least 355 people were arrested for supporting the proscribed group, which was classed by the UK government at a terror organisation earlier this year.
The bulk of the arrests were made at Trafalgar Square, where around 1,000 protesters gathered despite calls by Sir Keir Starmer and police chiefs to stay away following the terror attack in Manchester.
The Met said many of those arrested had to be carried out of the square after refusing to walk, taking up to five officers at a time to move each person.
Paula Dodds, chairwoman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, said officers are “physically exhausted” but continue to be called on “to facilitate these relentless protests”.
“And we are coming under attack for doing so. How can this be right?” she asked.
Ms Dodds added: “There aren’t enough of us. Hard-working police officers are continually having days off cancelled, working longer shifts and being moved from other areas to facilitate these protests.
“Our concentration should be on keeping people safe at a time when the country is on heightened alert from a terrorist attack… We are emotionally and physically exhausted. What are politicians and senior police officers going to do about it?”
Event organiser Defend Our Juries estimated around 700 protesters had joined the demonstration. Among those arrested, the group said, was 79-year-old Elizabeth Morley, a Jewish woman and daughter of a Holocaust survivor.
Kerry Moscogiuri, director of campaigns at human rights group Amnesty International UK, said: “Arresting hundreds of people for peacefully sitting down and holding these signs is not the job of police.
“These arrests are in breach of the UK’s international human rights obligations and should not be happening.”
In what Defend Our Juries called the biggest ever defiance of the ban on Palestine Action, more than 1,000 people, of a mixture of ages, sat for the silent vigil in central London in protest at the proscription of the group.
The names of Palestinian children killed in Israel’s war on Gaza were read out, while demonstrators held handwritten signs that read: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”
Meanwhile, around 100 people gathered in Manchester City centre for a similar demonstration there, organised by Greater Manchester Friends of Palestine.
The prime minister had urged protesters to “respect the grief of British Jews”, while Jewish figures have called the action “phenomenally tone deaf” after two people were killed in the attack in Manchester on Thursday.
Politicians and senior police officers joined calls for the events not to go ahead. Scotland Yard chief Sir Mark Rowley warned the rallies would “likely create further tensions and some might say lacks sensitivity” in the wake of the attack, while Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police Sir Stephen Watson urged would-be attendees to “consider whether this is really the right time”.
Sir Mark added that protests are “drawing valuable resources away from the communities of London at a time when they are needed most”. Police forces have deployed extra officers to synagogues and other Jewish buildings to offer protection and reassurance in the aftermath of the attack, with hundreds of extra officers around Manchester in particular.
In a statement issued on X on Saturday, the Met said: “As of 5.20pm, 355 people had been arrested for supporting a proscribed organisation. The majority of people still remaining in Trafalgar Square are onlookers who are not holding placards in support of Palestine Action. Arrests continue.”
Earlier, the force said: “The arrest phase takes time. Many of those arrested won’t walk out of the square and need to be carried, something that requires a minimum of five officers to do safely.”
A vicar, who had been sitting with her eyes closed and holding a poster saying “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action”, was among those arrested and carried out by police. Some people in the crowd called police “shameful” and one said to officers “thanks for protecting us” as the woman was taken away.
Two elderly men were also seen being carried by each limb to the south-west side of the square, where officers and police vehicles are waiting to process the arrests.
Meanwhile, a crowd gathered outside Manchester Cathedral listened to speeches before moving off en masse to march through the city centre. As they banged drums and chanted “Free Palestine!”, a group of counter-protesters got ahead of them, marching in front and holding a flag saying “F*** Hamas” and shouting “release the hostages”.
The government’s former adviser on political violence called Saturday’s protests a “callous insult to thousands of grieving Jews”. Speaking to The Independent, Lord Walney also warned they may prove “a major tactical blunder for their campaign”.
Referring to Saturday’s protests, Dave Rich, director of policy at the Community Security Trust, a charity that provides security to the Jewish community, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think it’s phenomenally tone deaf, to say the least, for so many people who claim to care about human rights and care about freedoms, to be taking police resources away from protecting the rights and freedoms of Jewish people to live their lives and go to synagogue in safety, all to support a proscribed terrorist organisation, which is not the same thing as supporting the Palestinians.”
Sir Keir said events could cause further turmoil for families of victims and the Jewish communities following Thursday’s attack.
Writing in The Jewish Chronicle and The Jewish News, the Prime Minister said: “I urge anyone thinking about protesting this weekend to recognise and respect the grief of British Jews this week. This is a moment of mourning. It is not a time to stoke tension and cause further pain.”
But a member of the group behind the London protest said it would be “unwise” to heed calls to cancel it.
Speaking to Today before the protest started, human rights campaigner Sir Jonathon Porritt added: “I have no doubt whatsoever that everyone taking part in the Defend Our Juries’ silent vigil today will demonstrate huge respect and real grief for those affected by the absolute atrocity at Heaton Park. But I don’t think that means that we should be asked to give up on our right to stand up for those who are being devastated by an ongoing, real-time genocide in Gaza.”
Greenpeace UK described the arrests over Palestine Action support a “waste of police time” and called for a judicial review on the proscription of the group to go ahead.
Co-executive director of the charity, Areeba Hamid, said: “Police officers must be wondering why they are carrying out these performative arrests instead of protecting our communities after one of the worst antisemitic terror attacks to take place on British soil.”
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp argued for stronger powers to prevent pro-Palestine marches, saying that allowing antisemitism any “space at all” can lead to attacks such as the Manchester synagogue killing.
Meanwhile, counter-terror police were granted warrants giving them extra time to question four people arrested on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts following Thursday’s attack, with another two also in custody.
Jihad Al-Shamie, 35, who was on bail for an alleged rape, was shot dead by police as he targeted the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in Crumpsall on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.
Three men remain in hospital after the car and knife attack. Adrian Daulby, 53, is believed to have been shot dead by police. Melvin Cravitz, 66, was also killed, with both men having attempted to stop al-Shamie.
Visiting the scene of the attack on Saturday afternoon, Kemi Badenoch said Jewish people in the UK must be given greater security as some are “leaving to go to Israel”.
The Tory leader told reporters: “Right now, what we’re seeing is people exercising their rights, but not responsibilities.
“Jewish people right now are telling me that they are leaving to go to Israel. Israel is at war. How can people be leaving the UK to go to a war zone and think that they’ll be safer there?
Ms Badenoch added: “This should not be happening in Manchester. Our country has always been a sanctuary for Jewish people and always should be.”
