Twelve people detained at pro-Palestinian demonstration in London

Twelve people were arrested this Saturday at a pro-Palestinian demonstration that drew thousands of people in London, two of them for holding anti-Semitic posters, local police said.

“A man was seen in the crowd holding an anti-Semitic sign. As officers approached to detain him, they were attacked, resulting in the arrest of six people,” reads a message posted on the London Police’s official social media account (formerly Twitter). ).

Among the 12 people arrested, another was also arrested for holding an anti-Semitic poster.

At the demonstration, which took place in central London, banners demanded an “immediate ceasefire” and protesters shouted about a “free Palestine.”

More than 4,000 anti-Semitic incidents were reported in the United Kingdom last year, the Community Security Trust, which records such events and ensures the safety of schools and places of worship for the country’s Jewish community, said in February. .

On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched a surprise attack on southern Israel that killed more than 1,140 people, most of them civilians, according to an Agence France Presse tally based on official Israeli data.

According to Israeli authorities, about 240 people were kidnapped and taken to the Gaza Strip. Of these, about a hundred were released in late November during a truce in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, while 132 hostages remain in custody on Palestinian territory.

In response to the attack, Israel declared war on Hamas, the movement that has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007 and is classified as a terrorist group by the European Union and the United States, bombing several of the group’s infrastructure in the Gaza Strip and imposing a total blockade of the area, cutting off water, fuel and electricity.

Following the Hamas attack, Israel’s massive offensive left more than 28,600 people dead and 68,400 injured, most of them civilians.