An estimated 100,000 people joined a pro-Palestinian rally in London on Saturday, including supporters of radical Islam and far-left groups such as Antifa and various socialist organisations.
The Metropolitan Police said that up to 100,000 people joined a rally to support Palestine in the wake of the deadly Hamas terror strikes on Israel that left over 1,200 people dead and the subsequent retaliation on Palestine. Protests were also held in multicultural Birmingham, as well as in Cardiff and Salford on Saturday.
According to The Telegraph, protesters carried signs including some depicting both British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with Hitler moustaches, with the caption “Crime Minister”.
Protesters could once again be heard chanting the genocidal creed: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”, a rallying cry for the destruction of the state of Israel and its people from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.
Video footage captured by veteran protest watcher Andy Ngo saw people at the rally carry signs in support of radical Islamic jihad and calling for the “Muslim armies” of the world to enter the fight against Israel.
“The only solution is jihad by the armies of the Muslim countries,” a speaker was filmed saying outside the Egyptian Embassy in London. Others could be heard chanting the Islamic war cry “Allah hu Akbar”.
The rally was joined by members of the far-left, including people waving banners and placards from the Socialist Worker, while others were filmed waving the flag of the radical militant Antifa group.
Ahead of the protest, the Met Police warned that those who showed support for banned terror groups such as Hamas would face arrest. While members of the protest were pictured flying the black ‘Shahada’ flag used by Islamist terror organisations such as Jabhat al Nusra and al-Qaeda, the police noted that it was not the ISIS flag, and therefore apparently not worthy of arrest.
“The flags in this photo are not those of ISIS. They are the ‘shahada’ which is a declaration of faith in Islam. ISIS flags may appear similar but are not the same. We have specialist officers with knowledge of flags working on this operation to assist with these assessments,” the police said.
The Met also said prior to the demonstration that chanting “from the river to the sea” would not automatically necessitate arrest, but only if it was used to specifically intimidate Jewish people at the protest.
The protest drew controversy before it even began, with a London underground train driver using the broadcast system to lead those headed to the protest in a chant of “Free, Free Palestine”, sparking condemnation from commentators for inserting political bias into a government position.
“It is not the job of a TFL driver to make political statements on a public announcement. This man should be fired,” Brexit leader Nigel Farage said.
Reclaim Party leader Laurence Fox added: “Imagine being a Jewish passenger on this train? How safe would you feel? Drive the train. Use the tannoy for passenger information, not political sloganeering.
“This is Sadiq Khan’s London. Where there is bad hate and there is good hate.”
The police have not announced any arrests from the protest at the time of this reporting.
Editor’s Note: This story was updated to reflect a revised number on the death toll from the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel. The Israeli government estimate of 1,400 was revised to around 1,200, according to Reuters.
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