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Eleven arrested at pro-Palestinian marches in London

Henry Moore
Getty Images Police escort pro-Palestinian protesters in London during a march attended by around 100 people on the third anniversary of the 7 October attack. Getty Images
Protests went ahead on 7 October despite calls for them to be postponed

Eleven people were arrested at several pro-Palestinian demonstrations held in London on Wednesday.

Among them were five people arrested on suspicion of inciting racial hatred at a protest outside the office of the Board of Deputies of British Jews in north London, the Metropolitan Police said.

The force said the other arrests were made at student pro-Palestinian protests elsewhere in the capital, which were held despite calls for them to be postponed.

Wednesday marked three years since the 7 October attack on Israel by Hamas, in which around 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken as hostages by the militant group.

Israel responded to the attack by launching a military offensive in Gaza that has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Footage from the demonstration outside the Board of Deputies' Camden office showed a few dozen protesters, several of whom were wearing face coverings.

In a statement following the arrests, the Board of Deputies, the UK's largest Jewish community group, said it "would not be threatened or intimidated" and thanked police for their "swift" response.

Slogans "calling for intifada" were chanted during the protest, according to the Met. The five arrested remain in custody.

The term intifada came into popular use during the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1987.

Jewish groups have described the term as a call for violence against Jewish people. Pro-Palestinian groups have said it is a call for peaceful resistance to Israel's occupation.

The Board of Deputies is set to hold a vigil in Richmond Terrace, near Whitehall in central London, later on Wednesday.

In a later statement, the Met said officers would remain on the ground in central London for the remainder of the afternoon.

AFP via Getty Images A group of people, some waving flags or holding placards, take part in a pro-Palestinian march in London. One protester can be seen holding a sign that reads "3 years since October 7, 78 years since 1948". Police can be seen escorting the march. AFP via Getty Images
Around 100 pro-Palestinian demonstrators attended a march despite calls for it to be postponed

A pro-Palestinian march attended by around 100 people took place between Lincoln's Inn Fields to Russell Square.

Five were arrested for breaching conditions imposed on the march, including not to wear face coverings, the Met said.

One person was arrested on suspicion of common assault.

The Met said it ended ahead of a police-enforced dispersal time, which was imposed when organisers rejected calls to move it from 7 October.

Counter-demonstrators carrying Israeli flags also gathered in Russell Square. There were some minor scuffles between the two groups.

Pro-Palestinian protesters were heard chanting "Zionists not welcome here" and "free Palestine from the river to the sea".

Some use the chant as a call for Palestinian control of all land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, including Israel.

Critics say the slogan is a call for the destruction of the state of Israel.

That interpretation is disputed by pro-Palestinian activists, who say that most people chanting it are calling for an end to Israel's occupation of the West Bank and blockade of Gaza, not the destruction of Israel itself.