Several hundred protesters gather outside Downing Street to protest against Israeli atrocities in Gaza.
Rally in Traf Square
Protest moves into road
Police drag people away from the sit down protest
About 2:30 several hundred protesters gathered outside Downing Street to protest against Israeli atrocities in Gaza. Most, if not all of the protestors had come from the anti-war rally in Trafalgar Square.
It seems the police were not expecting so many people to attend this protest and initially only a handful of police kept an eye on the crowd. However, it wasn’t long before 4 - 5 vans full of police arrived, much to the annoyance of everyone.
With the assistance of some workmen, the police moved crowd control barriers to try and contain the protest. All this seemed to achieve was to make people angry and cause tension between the police and the protestors.
After about an hour or so the south end of the protest made a break for it and moved into the road. Police attempts to keep everyone back failed and it wasn’t long before a fair number of people, probably 100+, managed to bring the traffic to a halt. Further up Whitehall two police Land Rovers were used to block the road and stop traffic approaching.
About 20-30 of the people in the road began a sit down protest. Minor scuffles between police and protesters stopped as the situation calmed down. There was enough room to allow one lane of traffic through so police moved their Land Rovers and the traffic began to pass again, albeit very slowly. Support from people on open topped busses was fantastic, many of them cheering and waving!
Soon the police began to reorganise themselves and again, with the assistance of some workmen, began penning people in using the crowd control barriers. Police also moved in on the sit down protest and began dragging people away in a none too friendly manner. This was met by shouts of, “Shame on you” and further scuffles between police and protestors.
After a very long struggle, the protest was eventually forced back onto the pavement. By 4:30 the protest began to break up, although when I left, I would say the number of protestors was still in the 100’s.
As far as I could tell, there was one arrest, although I did not see it.
It seems the police were not expecting so many people to attend this protest and initially only a handful of police kept an eye on the crowd. However, it wasn’t long before 4 - 5 vans full of police arrived, much to the annoyance of everyone.
With the assistance of some workmen, the police moved crowd control barriers to try and contain the protest. All this seemed to achieve was to make people angry and cause tension between the police and the protestors.
After about an hour or so the south end of the protest made a break for it and moved into the road. Police attempts to keep everyone back failed and it wasn’t long before a fair number of people, probably 100+, managed to bring the traffic to a halt. Further up Whitehall two police Land Rovers were used to block the road and stop traffic approaching.
About 20-30 of the people in the road began a sit down protest. Minor scuffles between police and protesters stopped as the situation calmed down. There was enough room to allow one lane of traffic through so police moved their Land Rovers and the traffic began to pass again, albeit very slowly. Support from people on open topped busses was fantastic, many of them cheering and waving!
Soon the police began to reorganise themselves and again, with the assistance of some workmen, began penning people in using the crowd control barriers. Police also moved in on the sit down protest and began dragging people away in a none too friendly manner. This was met by shouts of, “Shame on you” and further scuffles between police and protestors.
After a very long struggle, the protest was eventually forced back onto the pavement. By 4:30 the protest began to break up, although when I left, I would say the number of protestors was still in the 100’s.
As far as I could tell, there was one arrest, although I did not see it.
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