\n<\/p>\n
Tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters marched in London on Saturday, with police making 12 arrests for alleged offences including inciting racial hatred and assaulting emergency workers.<\/p>\n
The demonstrators gathered at Park Lane in the centre of the British capital holding banners demanding a “ceasefire now” while chanting “free Palestine”.<\/p>\n
“People are very, very concerned that there’s going to be a disaster piled upon an already existing disaster in Rafah,” John Rees, from Stop the War Coalition, told AFP.<\/p>\n
“What I hope is that we can avert this tragedy being made permanent.”<\/p>\n
London’s Metropolitan Police said 12 people had been arrested, including two for displaying anti-Semitic placards.<\/p>\n
“A man was seen in the crowd with an anti-Semitic placard. When officers went in to arrest him they were assaulted, resulting in six arrests,” the force posted on X, formerly Twitter.<\/p>\n
Two other people were arrested for refusing to remove face coverings when required to do so, while another person was arrested on suspicion of support for a proscribed organisation in relation to a placard.<\/p>\n
Pro-Palestinian marches have become a regular feature on Saturdays in London ever since Israel mounted its military response to Hamas’ unprecedented attack on October 7.<\/p>\n
The attack resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.<\/p>\n
Militants also took about 250 people hostage, 130 of whom are still in Gaza, including 30 who are presumed dead, according to Israeli figures.<\/p>\n
Israel’s retaliatory assault on Gaza has killed at least 28,858 people, mostly women and children, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.<\/p>\n
jwp\/imm<\/p>\n<\/div>\n