Police block pro-Palestine protest day after PM’s extremist warning

Police used their powers to block a pro-Palestine protest in London on Saturday following Rishi Sunak’s warning that demonstrations and democracy itself were being ” targeted by extremists” .

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign singled out Barclays Bank for its day of action, assembling at nearly 50 locations including the branch on Tottenham Court Road in central London.

Protesters marched from Mornington Crescent to the Barclays branch, accompanied by the controversial “from the river to the sea” chant and flanked by a mass of police officers.

At the Barclays branch on Tottenham Court Road, the police blocked protesters and ordered them to move across the road citing Section 14 of the Public Order Act.

Luca Salice, 67, co-chair of the Camden Palestine Solidarity Campaign, dismissed the prime minister’s rhetoric around extremists as an election ploy and said protesters were actually grateful for the police.

“Rishi Sunak is losing an election. He is scrambling”, Mr Salice said, adding: “I don’t think our protests are extremist. I don’t see how being in favour of human lives is extremist.”