A pro-Palestinian mob holding racist banners claimed the Labour Party was ‘Zionist’ and ‘racist’ during a rally this evening.
Protesters chanted ‘Labour Party, Zionist Party’ and ‘Labour Party, Racist Party’ at the demonstration near Westminster Bridge in central London.
The mob had reportedly followed Labour Party officials to the area and continued their protest while they were in a meeting.
The protest is the latest in weeks of pro-Palestine demonstrations in the capital. While largely peaceful, protests around the UK have been marred by some demonstrators’ anti-Semitic chanting and signs.
The anger towards Labour comes just days after a pro-Palestine activist engaged Sir Keir Starmer in a tense exchange which saw the party leader quizzed over his stance on the Gaza crisis.
Protesters chanted ‘Labour Party, Zionist Party’ and ‘Labour Party, Racist Party’ at the demonstration in Westminster
The mob had reportedly followed Labour Party officials to the area and continued their protest while they had a meeting
One sign at the rally tonight said: ‘The coconuts are getting paid. Men, women and Gaza betrayed.’
Another said: ‘No votes for genocide supporters.’
It came as the Metropolitan Police was blasted after telling protesters in Trafalgar Square to stop waving Israeli flags because it is a ‘heritage site’ – despite the square playing host to several pro-Palestine rallies in recent weeks.
In a video shared online by the campaign group Eye on Antisemitism, the officer can be heard telling a protester to take the flag ‘off the wall’ in front of the National Gallery before he is then challenged by someone filming the exchange.
In a self-filmed video, a pro-Palestine supporter is seen approaching the Labour leader as he looks at a laptop with an aide in a train carriage
During the two-minute clip, the Met constable says: ‘You’re not meant to be here because this is a protected heritage site, so you need a licence to be here, to do what you’re doing.
‘You didn’t have one in the first place and we’ve been nice enough to let you be here, alright?’
The person filming claims during the clip that the officer ‘got jittery’ after someone shouted ‘Free Palestine’ – and points out that the square has been the site of many pro-Palestine rallies in the last two months.
The Metropolitan Police officer said he and his colleagues had been ‘nice enough’ to let pro-Israel protesters hold a rally in Trafalgar Square
The Metropolitan Police officer told protesters to take a flag ‘off the wall’ because Trafalgar Square is a ‘protected heritage site’
The officer then says he won’t ‘argue’ with the person filming about his request for the flag to be removed – prompting them to reply: ‘Two-tier policing, innit’
A pro-Palestinian protest in Trafalgar Square on November 4. Protesters can be seen standing on, and draping flags over, the same area of the square
A previous gathering on October 14 – one week after Hamas’ violent incursion into Israel – saw protesters climb onto the base of Nelson’s Column
Shaking his head, the constable replies: ‘Sir, I’m not arguing with you.’ He then claims he has asked people to take flags down in the past before he is then challenged by other observers.
The man filming then adds: ‘On Saturday there were thousands of Palestinian flags here. You got jittery over one Star of David, yeah. Two-tier policing, innit.’
He continues: ‘This is a heritage site he said, right? And that’s why you’re not allowed the flag up there. Did that stop the Palestinians from climbing up there Saturday and waving all their flags?’
The video has been watched more than 40,000 times and ‘liked’ more than 1,100 times on X, formerly Twitter, according to analytics provided by the website.
Labour has been split over the crisis in Gaza. Last month, leader Sir Keir suffered a huge revolt in the House of Commons as 56 of his MPs defied him and backed calls for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
The Labour leader saw vast swathes of his parliamentary party ignore his orders and vote in favour of an SNP-led demand for an ‘immediate ceasefire’ in the Middle East.
has contacted Labour for comment.