On Saturday, around 300,000 people marched through London in support of a new appeal for a Gaza war truce.
The “National March for Palestine” had been arranged for Armistice Day, Britain’s annual memorial of its war dead. Several arrests have been recorded.
Following a two-minute pause at the Cenotaph war memorial in central London, the march began.
A police spokesman predicted that 300,000 people would take part.
Protesters carried signs that read “Stop Bombing Gaza” and waved Palestinian flags in black, red, white, and green.
Since the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, which murdered at least 1,200 people and took 239 hostages, there have been virtually weekly marches in London.
According to the Hamas-run health ministry, the Israeli air and ground warfare onslaught in retaliation has killed nearly 11,000 people in Gaza.
Protesters in London chanted “free Palestine,” “ceasefire now,” and “Israel is a terror state.”
“Forget the political stance, forget everything else; you can’t stand by while people are being killed,” Shiraz Bobra, 41, of Leicester, central England, told AFP. He stated that he would return every week until a cease-fire was implemented.
Gavin Searle, 58, a television director from Hastings in south England, said he came “to show solidarity with the Palestinians when there’s a massive injustice taking place.”
Father John McGowan, a Roman Catholic priest, adding, “I feel for the Palestinians because their land is occupied and their occupiers can be cruel,” and expressed optimism for a two-state solution.
At past pro-Palestinian marches, London police arrested around 100 people, including several for supporting Hamas, which is designated a “terrorist” group in the UK.
In the midst of public order concerns, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak issued a late Friday plea for calm, urging protesters to act “respectfully and peacefully.”
March organizers shifted the route from Hyde Park to the US Embassy in south London to avoid passing any historic memorials.
Metal barriers have been erected around the most important memorials, and an exclusion zone has been established, with police able to arrest any marchers who attempt to break it.
Thousands of people dressed in red poppies, the symbol of remembering, stood with their heads bowed at The Cenotaph on Whitehall for a solemn ceremony of reflection, with other ceremonies performed across the country.
Minor scuffles erupted near the memorial as counter-protesters sought to break through police lines, many of whom were dressed in black with their faces covered and brandishing England’s St George’s flag and the Union Jack.
The Metropolitan Police reported missiles were later fired at officers in the nearby Chinatown area.
Later, police stated that they had arrested 82 counter-protesters in order to “prevent a breach of the peace,” claiming that they “tried to reach the main protest march.”
“We will continue to take action to avoid the disorder that would likely take place if that happened,” added the statement.
According to Deputy Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor, who is leading the police operation, counter-protesters are likely to include football hooligans, and police are “likely” to have to use force against “pockets of confrontation” at some point.
About 1,850 police personnel, including some moved in from other regions, have been recruited in to ensure the peace, with 1,375 on Sunday, when King Charles III, senior royals, and political leaders will lead a national ceremony of remembering at The Cenotaph.
Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary, has done little to calm tensions by accusing police of being more sympathetic to so-called left-wing protests than others.
The British political left has traditionally advocated for Palestinian rights.
This week, the government clashed with the Met, with ministers demanding for the march to be banned, raising concerns about political meddling in operational operations.
Sunak said he would make Met Police Commissioner Mark Rowley “accountable” for allowing the march to take place.
Rowley has stated, however, that it does not fulfill the criteria for pursuing a rare government order to halt the project.