Students chant pro-Palestinian slogans at October 7 march with huge police presence in London

DAILYMAIL.COM • 21h ago

By CAMERON CHARTERS and MATT STRUDWICK, SENIOR NEWS REPORTER 12:51 07 Oct 2026, updated 13:53 07 Oct 2026

Five people have been arrested during a demonstration outside the Board of Deputies of British Jews office in London this morning.

The Met Police said it involved allegedly shouting or chanting slogans calling for the intifada during the ‘spontaneous’ protest in Camden on the third anniversary of the October 7 atrocity.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews is expected to hold a vigil in Richmond Terrace, just off Whitehall, later today.

The protest has now ended, but it came just hours before students were heard shouting pro-Palestinian slogans during another rally.

Roughly 100 demonstrators gathered at Lincoln’s Inn Fields shortly before midday, shouting the controversial chant ‘From the river to the sea Palestine will be free’.

A group at the back of the march was holding a banner reading: ‘Holocaust survivor descendants against Gaza genocide’.

Despite being told by police yesterday not to wear face coverings a handful of marchers disobeyed the order.

Pro-Israeli and Palestinian protesters clashed, with Israeli protesters heard shouting ‘You just love terror’, followed by ‘scum’ and ‘terrorist supporters off our streets’.

Counter-demonstrators made their way through the gardens in Russell Square after they were blocked from following pro-Palestine protesters on their march.

The counter-protesters gathered behind the garden gates and chanted: ‘Shame on you.’

Officers blocked the garden exit closest to where the pro-Palestine protesters were gathered.

The rally is being policed by dozens of officers and is causing chaos on the roads.

Looking on from Southampton Row, Mark Rose said: ‘Half of them don’t even know what river they are referring to.’

Mr Rose, 55, who was on his way to work in Hatton Garden, added: ‘I think they should be swept off the streets and banned for good.

‘They are supporting a terrorist organisation. It is a celebration of mass murder, rape, and torture.

‘I have seen some of the videos from that day (October 7) and it was horrific and I bet none of them have ever watched it.

‘I would screen it on IMAX and make them watch it and lock the doors to see who puked first.’

A small group of pro-Palestine protesters who remained by Russell Square gardens was surrounded by counter-demonstrators shouting ‘scum’.

Police officers tried to create a path so that they could walk away in the direction of the British Museum.

Demonstrators marched from King’s College London in the Strand to University College London in Russell Square, Holborn.

New rules imposed by the Met required the group to gather in a specific area, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, by 12.30pm and take a prescribed route to Russell Square. The rally must finish by 2pm, when protesters must disperse.

Those taking part were warned by police that they faced being arrested if they broke any of the ‘stringent’ restrictions.

It included a ban on wearing a face covering that hides their identity.

A counter-protest by Stop the Hate was also ordered to end by 2pm.

The decision to march in support of Palestine on Wednesday has faced backlash, with Jewish student leaders calling the plans ‘outrageous’.

Defence Secretary Wes Streeting branded the planned demonstrations ‘shameful’ while Education Secretary Lucy Powell had urged students ‘to show compassion and protest on another day’.

King’s College London said yesterday it would be closing the Strand-facing entrances at three of its buildings ‘for the safety and wellbeing of our students’.

It follows calls for police to go further and seek a ban on the protest, after officers vowed to take a ‘robust’ stance on the ‘day of mourning and a day of reflection’.

The demonstration has been advertised on social media by student activists, who say they intend to ‘take to the street’ to ‘demand an end to the Palestinian genocide’.

It will come on the third anniversary of the atrocity in which Hamas militants murdered more than 1,200 civilians and took 251 hostages.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner James Harman, who leads Met Operations including public order policing, said: ‘This event is being held on the third anniversary of the October 7 terrorist attack on Israel and the start of the ensuing conflict in Gaza.

‘This will be a day of mourning and reflection for many in London and we know the serious concerns that this event has caused Jewish communities in particular.

‘We have imposed stringent conditions on those taking part in this march. These will help us manage the event and minimise serious disruption.

‘Anyone who breaches these conditions or commits offences should be under no illusion they will face arrest. We have zero tolerance for hate crime and those who chant or display placards calling for intifada or encourage unlawful extremism will be arrested.’

Mr Harman previously asked the estimated 300 students planning to march to ‘reflect on the impact and distress it will cause on this very significant day, and exercise your right to protest on a different date’.

The plans were also condemned by Jewish organisations and senior politicians.

Mr Harman said the march, along with another pro-Palestinian protest planned for Saturday, October 10, and possible disorder ahead of the Holborn and St Pancras by-election next week, has the potential ‘to fuel further tensions’ in London.

The Met said they are ‘making every effort’ through universities and others to identify organisers of the shadowy University of London Coalition, who are responsible for advertising the event.

Mr Harman added today: ‘We hear the calls for this event to be banned. The police cannot ban protests and can only ask the Home Secretary to do so if the risk of serious disorder is so high that it can’t be managed by conditions. That high bar is not met here.

‘Comments on social media that we banned other protests, such as a UKIP march in Tower Hamlets, are incorrect.

‘We have been asked whether the student march is illegal, as under Section 11 of the Public Order Act organisers must provide a name and address to police.

‘While we can identify the groups involved in organising the protest from their social media posts, we have not yet identified any specific individual prepared to accept that they are the organiser of this demonstration.

‘Under the law, the failure of an organiser to identify themselves does not mean that the specific legal criteria for a ban of a procession is met.

‘Once we have identified the organisers, we can consider offences under Section 11.

‘I would like to take this opportunity – again – to call on anyone intending to join this march to please reflect on the impact and distress it will cause on this very significant date, and exercise your right to protest on a different day.’

Education Secretary Lucy Powell previously said: ‘We certainly shouldn’t be doing anything other than marking those attacks on October 7 with deep mourning for those who lost their lives and those who were victims of that terrible Hamas attack.’

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