Tens of thousands of people marched through central London yesterday in two separate protests – one against high levels of immigration and another in support of Palestinians.
Police deployed 4,000 officers, including reinforcements from outside the capital, and pledged ‘the most assertive possible use of our powers’ in what they called their biggest public order operation in years.
Shortly after both marches started, police said they had made 11 arrests for a range of offences. They had earlier forecast turnout of at least 80,000.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer had accused organisers of the Unite the Kingdom march of ‘peddling hate and division, plain and simple’.
Nearby, pro-Palestinian demonstrators held a march to mark Nakba Day, commemorating Palestinians’ loss of land in the 1948 war that followed the creation of Israel.
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