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About 300 000 people march in London “for Palestine” /></p>
<p> Henry Nicholls Agence France-Presse A major security system has been deployed in the British capital to avoid possible excesses, the police having already arrested nearly 200 people during previous marches organized since the October 7. </p>
<p>Around 300,000 people marched in London on Saturday to demand a ceasefire in Gaza, under close police surveillance to try to avoid excesses while nationalist counter-protesters were also present in large numbers in the capital.</p>
<p>This “National March for Palestine” started around 12:00 p.m. local time, shortly after commemorations of the First World War armistice also held this weekend across the country.</p>
<p>Flying Palestinian flags and holding signs demanding to “Stop the bombing of Gaza”, demonstrators shout “Free Palestine” and “ceasefire now”, five weeks after the deadly attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas against Israel, which in response massively bombs the Gaza Strip.</p>
<p>A major security system has been deployed in the British capital to prevent possible excesses, the police having already arrested nearly 200 people during previous organized marches since October 7.</p>
<p>This is also being held against the advice of the government, which deemed it “disrespectful” during this weekend of commemorations.</p>
<p>Friday evening, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called on the demonstrators to walk “peacefully and respectfully”.</p>
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  • Altercations

    Nearly 2,000 police officers were mobilized and the head of operations within the London police, Laurence Taylor, stressed that this weekend would be “particularly tense and difficult”.

    He particularly expects that nationalist counter-protesters, including hooligans, will come to the site, increasing the risks of confrontations.< /p>

    According to several British media, Tommy Robinson, founder of the far-right group English Defense League, is among these counter-protesters.

    Scuffles took place at the end of the morning between the police and nationalist activists who were trying to approach the area of ​​Whitehall where the memorial to British soldiers who died in combat is located.

    The officers “experienced violence and attacks from counter-protesters who threw bottles and other projectiles at them. We will respond firmly to this disorder and unacceptable aggression,” the Metropolitan Police said on 'a stick, and is currently holding “a large group” of these counter-protesters behind a security cordon in a street in the capital.

    Political crisis

      < p>The organization of the march turned into a political crisis, the government having put pressure on the police to ban it, which the latter refused.

    Rishi Sunak warned that he would hold the police chief, Mark Rowley, “responsible” for possible excesses.

    Interior Minister Suella Braverman, who described the pro-Palestinian demonstrations as “hate marches”, said sparked a flood of criticism after publicly accusing the police of having “double standards” in their handling of the protests.

    Friday evening, she affirmed that she “totally supported” the police, but several political leaders accused her of adding fuel to the fire before the procession took place.

    Several elected officials from the opposition demanded again on Saturday his departure from the government, like the Scottish Prime Minister Humza Yousaf.

    “The far right was encouraged by the Minister of the Interior […] They are now attacking the police on armistice day. The position of the Minister of the Interior is untenable. She must resign,” he wrote on revised downwards by the Israeli government, and 11,078 deaths in the retaliatory bombings carried out by Israel in the Gaza Strip, mainly civilians too, including 4,506 children, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.

    Since the start of the conflict, the United Kingdom has experienced an increase in anti-Semitic and Islamophobic acts.

    Teilor Stone

    By Teilor Stone

    Teilor Stone has been a reporter on the news desk since 2013. Before that she wrote about young adolescence and family dynamics for Styles and was the legal affairs correspondent for the Metro desk. Before joining Thesaxon , Teilor Stone worked as a staff writer at the Village Voice and a freelancer for Newsday, The Wall Street Journal, GQ and Mirabella. To get in touch, contact me through my teilor@nizhtimes.com 1-800-268-7116