Armistice Day marches: Hampshire officers join 1,000 extra police in London

Hundreds of thousands organised in London this Armistice Day to protest the government’s reaction to ongoing fighting in Gaza.

Heightened concerns for disruption led to the Metropolitan Police drafting an extra 1,000 officers from around the country, including some from Hampshire.

Now sacked Home Secretary, Suella Braverman branded similar events “hate marchers” and suggested that the protests should not be allowed to go ahead.

Despite this, the route for the march was diverted away from the Cenotaph in advance of Armistice Day, and the protests went ahead.

The protesters marched through London from Hyde Park to the US Embassy, calling for a ceasefire – something which the UK government didn’t support.

One group who were opposed to the march were far-right activists. This culminated in a clash between police and these groups, who broke through barricades and threw projectiles at police.

Nearly 150 arrests were made on the day, with many of those being for breaching the peace.

The Met Police have launched investigations into certain placards held up by Palestine protesters, which have been described by them as ‘hate speech’, raising concerns of anti-Semitism.

Regardless, the day went ahead with no further major cases of clashes, and no large scale incidents between protesters and what Braverman called ‘counter-protesters’ took place.