October 23rd 2023.
On Saturday, a man was arrested for shouting racist abuse during a pro-Palestine march in central London, calling for an end to Israel's bombardment of Gaza. Footage shared on Twitter shows the man waving a black and white flag and chanting outside Whitehall. A protester in a grey hoodie can be seen holding a megaphone next to him and bellowing 'Hamas'. The clip was viewed by over 4.2 million people, with many demanding the man's arrest.
The Metropolitan Police confirmed last night that the man was detained on suspicion of inciting racial hatred. They said in a statement: “Yesterday this man was filmed shouting racist abuse in Whitehall. He is in custody having been arrested on suspicion of inciting racial hatred.”
The march was organised by London Palestine Action and an estimated 100,000 people attended. The procession travelled from Marble Arch to Whitehall and Parliament Square. Most of the demonstrators held up placards reading 'Free Palestine' and chanted 'From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free'. Some also unfurled giant Palestinian flags and set off red and green smoke flares and fireworks.
The Agency cannot verify what the flag in the footage was, however the Met has warned against spreading false propaganda about the presence of ISIS flags at the event. They shared a screenshot of a now deleted tweet accusing protesters of holding 'Jihadist flags' and chanting in support of genocide, and clarified that the flags in the lower left photo were not those of ISIS. The flags were in fact the 'shahada', a declaration of faith in Islam, and the Met noted that ISIS flags may appear similar but are not the same. They also expressed their disapproval of the abusive comments the original poster received.
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