A woman has been arrested at a Palestine protest in London as she was wanted for an offence committed at a previous marc. On a day that saw 13 protestors arrested in total, thousands of pro-Palestine protesters gathered in Parliament Square to call for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Chanting controversial messages, the protesters marched from Bank Junction to Westminster in the centre of the city, with many holding signs with the words “Free Palestine” and “End the siege”.
Some protesters chanted: “One, two, three, four, occupation no more, five, six, seven, eight, Israel is a terrorist state.” While others repeated the inflammatory message: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
The majority of arrests were for “offensive messages” which were displayed, according to the force. Police said that one woman was arrested after the force’s specialist Voyager CCTV monitoring team identified her as being wanted for an offence that occurred at a previous protest on October 28.
It comes after the UK chose to abstain on a United Nations Security Council resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza – a motion that was vetoed by the US.
Lebanese-American Nadim Hussami, 44, said that the Government should demand a ceasefire. She told the PA news agency: “They should ask for an immediate ceasefire and not veto or abstain from UN Security Council resolutions.”
Jocelyn Cruywagen, from South Africa, also called for a permanent ceasefire, adding: “They should ask for the land to be restored to the Palestinians. The wall needs to come down.”
While Londoner Kelly Hunter said she felt “helpless” watching the news. The 60-year-old said: “I have come on every single one, I am a Londoner. I feel helpless, I can’t sleep at night. I am watching this genocide. I will do everything I can in my power to march against it.”
Previous weekends have seen thousands of protesters and counter-protesters converging on the capital, while the Met Police has been forced to deploy hundreds of extra officers to oversee the marches.
