More than 70 protesters arrested in Trafalgar Square after police line broken
Thousands of pro-Palestine demonstrators marched from a static rally in Whitehall to Trafalgar Square on Saturday.
More than 70 pro-Palestinian protesters have been arrested in Trafalgar Square on suspicion of breaching protest conditions after demonstrators broke through a police line as they marched from a rally in Whitehall.
Saturday’s Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) protest was adjusted to be a static rally after police curtailed organisers’ plans for a march past the BBC and near a synagogue.
But thousands of demonstrators, including former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and the party’s former shadow chancellor John McDonnell, marched towards Trafalgar Square from Whitehall after speeches were made at the rally.
Protesters met a line of police officers and eventually broke through, with those who made it to the square later finding themselves being held in one corner.
The Metropolitan Police warned the group to disperse or face arrest, later announcing 77 people had been arrested – the highest number over more than 20 national PSC protests since October 2023.
Some 65 had been detained for a breach of conditions, five for public order offences, two for obstructing police, one for supporting a proscribed organisation, one for inciting racial hatred, one for common assault, one for assault on an emergency worker and one for sexual assault.
Commander Adam Slonecki, who led the policing operation, said: “We have policed more than 20 national protests organised by the PSC since October 2023.
“This is the highest number of arrests we have seen, in response to the most significant escalation in criminality.”
He continued: “We could not have been clearer about the conditions in place. Protesters were to remain in Whitehall with no march towards the BBC.
“Our relationship with protest organisers has to be based on trust and good faith. If they say they will act responsibly and lawfully we need to be able to know those are genuine assurances.
“That is why it was so deeply disappointing to see a deliberate effort, involving organisers of the demonstration, to breach the conditions and attempt to march out of Whitehall.
“Officers responded bravely and decisively, ensuring they got no further than Trafalgar Square and certainly nowhere near their target.
“I am quite confident this was a co-ordinated breach with the intention being to reach the BBC at Portland Place in defiance of the conditions.
“There is video footage of one of the organisers clearly inciting the crowd to join a march and one of the organisations involved has released a statement this evening confirming as much.
“At the same time as the group was attempting to force its way past police lines, camera crews were seen arriving in Portland Place. It is unlikely that the timing was simply a coincidence.
