In London on Sunday, a massive rally, including former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, convened for an anti-Semitism march, following a large pro-Palestinian rally the day before.
U.K. Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis and high-ranking government officials joined Johnson in expressing solidarity with the Jewish community.
Organizers labeled it the most substantial gathering against anti-Semitism in London in nearly a century.
The marchers displayed Israeli flags and Union Jacks, holding placards that read “Never Again Is Now” and “Zero Tolerance for Antisemites.”
The march on Sunday was orchestrated against the backdrop of escalating tensions stemming from the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza. Malcolm Canning, a 75-year-old from London, voiced concerns, telling the AP, “Anything associated with the Jewish religion now feels that they’re under attack and they have to look after themselves, have their own security. I never thought this would get to this stage in this country. And it’s very, very upsetting to see it.”
During the march, police detained Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, the former leader of the far-right English Defence League, also known as Tommy Robinson, for refusing to leave after being warned about potential disruptions.
Gideon Falter, the chief executive of Campaign Against Antisemitism, highlighted the rally’s significance, following weeks of pro-Palestinian protests that, he claimed, had turned London into a “no-go zone for Jews.” Falter noted a surge in antisemitic incidents in the U.K. since the onset of the conflict and denounced “appalling” placards seen at the protests, including ones depicting a Magein David in a bin with the caption “please keep the world clean.”
On Shabbos, tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters marched for a permanent cease-fire, with the majority demonstrating peacefully, although 18 arrests were made, including for suspicion of inciting racial hatred.
The organizers of the Stop the War coalition, who orchestrated yesterday’s rally, emphasized their opposition to racism, antisemitism, and Islamophobia. During the Nov. 11 Armistice Day demonstration in London, pro-Palestinian protesters marched peacefully, but far-right counter-protesters, described as soccer “hooligans” by police, clashed with officers attempting to prevent attacks on the march. Organizers of Sunday’s march claimed it was the largest gathering of its kind since 1936 when hundreds of thousands blocked a planned march by the British Union of Fascists through a Jewish neighborhood.
{Matzav.com}
