Hundreds arrested at Gaza rally by 'exhausted' police

A senior police officer has declared “enough is enough” after “exhausted” officers arrested hundreds of people at a Palestine Action protest in London yesterday, just days after the Manchester synagogue attack.

- ARCHIE MITCHELL, TARA COBHAM

The Met Police said at least 492 people were arrested for supporting the proscribed group, which was classed by the UK government as a terror organisation earlier this year.

The bulk of the arrests were made at Trafalgar Square, where around 1,000 protesters sat silently, some holding signs backing Palestine Action, despite calls by Sir Keir Starmer and police chiefs to stay away following the terror attack in Manchester.

Amnesty International, meanwhile, said it should not be the job of the police to arrest people “peacefully sitting down”, and that the arrests amounted to a breach of the UK’s human rights obligations.

The Met said many of those arrested had to be carried out of the square after refusing to walk, with each person taking up to five officers to move away safely. Some were pictured holding their hands in the air defiantly.

Paula Dodds, chair of the Metropolitan Police Federation, said officers were “physically exhausted” but continue to be called on “to facilitate these relentless protests”. “And we are coming under attack for doing so. How can this be right?” she asked.

She added: “There aren’t enough of us. Hardworking police officers are continually having days off cancelled, working longer shifts and being moved from other areas to facilitate these protests.

“Our concentration should be on keeping people safe at a time when the country is on heightened alert from a terrorist attack. We are emotionally and physically exhausted. What are politicians and senior police officers going to do about it?”

Kerry Moscogiuri, director of campaigns at human rights group Amnesty International UK, said: “Arresting hundreds of people for peacefully sitting down and holding these signs is not the job of police.