London anti-Israel protesters applaud Hezbollah as antisemitism rises in the city

Tens of thousands of pro-Palestine protesters marched through London on Saturday, as worldwide anti-Israel rallies took place ahead of the upcoming one year anniversary of October 7.

Social media and British news outlets depict protesters holding banners expressing support for Hezbollah and Hamas, such as "Hezbollah are not terrorists” and “I love Hezbollah”.

Other signs showed slogans such as "Don't want no two state, we want 1948" or  "Zionism causes polio." Several featured the star in the Israeli flag replaced with a Nazi swastika.

According to the Met Police, Saturday's protest was organized by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, with a counter-protest called Stop the Hate.

The Telegraph reported that the pro-Palestine marchers chanted “Yemen, Yemen make us proud, turn another ship around" as they passed the British Library. The Telegraph also said that the anti-Israel crowd taunted the pro-Israel counter-protesters, saying to them “Freedom fighters, they will finish you all off!”

Campaign Against Antisemitism posted an image a man with a sign saying “I just love October" as well "long live resistance” alongside an inverted red triangle.

At today’s anti-Israel march in London, a man was seen with a sign that appeared to declare his “love” for “October”.Also on the sign are the words “long live resistance” alongside an inverted red triangle.In recent months, the inverted red triangle and its emoji variant have… pic.twitter.com/ocIiv2ATva

— Campaign Against Antisemitism (@antisemitism) October 5, 2024

"The law is very clear – anyone displaying symbols, wording or otherwise indicating their support for a proscribed organisation risks arrest," the Metropolitan Police wrote.

According to the Met, officers made 17 arrests, including one person on suspicion of supporting a proscribed organisation. Seven were for public order offences, three of which were racially aggravated.

Palestine Solidarity Campaign said in a statement that they were marching "to demand that the British government finally ends its complicity in Israel’s genocide, and ends all arms trade with Israel and to demand freedom and justice for the Palestinian people.”

The Metropolitan Police announced that it was working to identify the individuals or groups responsible for the banners expressing support for proscribed terror organizations.

"We're aware of posts showing people holding placards with messages of support for Hezbollah. The images have been passed to officers, including those monitoring our cameras."

The statement added that, given the turnout at the rallies, it isn't always easy for officers to see the words on placards, and that they were now working to locate them individuals.

"Action will be taken when we do, whether that is today or in the coming days," they added. The police added that  "enforcement does not finish when a protest ends" and that work would be done to charge those responsible for offences.

The head of the Met's taskforce, Commander Lou Puddefoot, said on Friday: “Protests and related events have become a feature of the 12 months since the appalling terrorist attacks in Israel almost a year ago," adding that security would be heightened as a result.

Rise in antisemitism

Puddefoot added that there has been a significant increase in antisemitic hate crimes in the past year.

"While the majority have taken place in communities, we have continued to see behaviour at protests which crosses the line from political speech into hate speech."

This comes as, for the first time on record, the number of antisemitic hate crimes in London have overtaken that of Islamophobic incidents, according to Met Police date this week.

In the 11 months after October 7, 2,170 antisemitic crimes were recorded by the Met, compared to 1,568 Islamophobic hate crimes.

This marks over a 400% increase in antisemitic crime, three times that in 2020.

According to the study, most of these incidents took place in five London boroughs: Barnet, Hackney, Camden, Haringey, and Westminster.

The first four are where the country’s largest Jewish communities, such as Golders Green and Stamford Hill, can be found.