Police arrested 40 people after clashes with officers at a pro-Palestine protest near Downing Street.
Six arrests were “for assaults on police officers” and the majority were for "breaching conditions”, the Metropolitan Police announced in a statement on Thursday night.
The demonstration of up to 300 people was organised by Global Movement for Gaza UK to demand protection for Greta Thunberg’s Gaza-bound flotilla and protest the proscription of Palestine Action.
A spokesman for Scotland Yard said: "Officers imposed Public Order Act conditions on the protest to keep roads open and prevent serious disruption.
“Regrettably, a significant number of those present were intent on breaching the conditions, leading to clashes with officers who moved in to enforce them.
“The protest has now dispersed and Whitehall has returned to normal.”
Activists were urged on social media to converge on 19 locations around the UK between 5.30pm and 6pm on Thursday.
Earlier this week. Greta Thunberg and a group of friends were detained off the Israeli coast this week after attempting to sail the Global Sumud Flotilla with aid to Gaza.
The Swedish climate campaigner, 22, is expected to be deported from Israel in due course.
Dramatic footage from Westminster captured police vans at the scene, with some officers locked in physical confrontations with protesters amid shouts of "death to the IDF".
At the Trafalgar Square end of Whitehall, pro-Palestine protesters started pushing the police lines and vans. Shortly after, chants from the crowd of “death, death to the IDF” rang out pic.twitter.com/RxYFLuY3vw
— Jack Hadfield 🇬🇧 (@JackHadders) October 2, 2025
The protest came amid heightened tensions hours after the death of two Jewish men at a synagogue in Manchester.
Adrian Daulby, 53, and Melvin Cravitz, 66, were killed by Jihad Al-Shamie, 35, outside Heaton Park Congregation Synagogue on Thursday morning.
The British man of Syrian descent was shot dead by Greater Manchester Police, while two men aged in their 30s and a woman in her 60s were been arrested on suspicion of commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast on Friday, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said she was disappointed that protests went ahead near Parliament the wake of the attacks.
She said: "I think that behaviour is fundamentally un-British. I think it's dishonourable.
“I would have wanted those individuals to just take a step back. The issues that are driving those protests have been going on now for some time; they don't look like they're going to come to an end any day soon.
“They could have stepped back and just given a community that has suffered deep loss just a day or two to process what has happened and to carry on with the grieving process."
