Piers Corbyn and Stop the War Coalition founder charged following arrests during pro-Palestinian march in London

Piers Corbyn and Stop the War Coalition founder Christopher Nineham are among ten people who have been charged with public order offences following more than 70 arrests at a pro-Palestine march in London yesterday.

Officers arrested 77 people during the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) protest that allegedly saw a coordinated effort to breach Public Order Act conditions and cause serious disruption to Londoners, according to the Met Police.

Today the force announced that ten people have been charged, including Corbyn, 77, (above left) the brother of former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, of East Street, Walworth, south-east London and Nineham, 62, (above top right) of Daling Way, Bow, east London.

Others charged include veteran activist Angela Zelter, 73, (above bottom left) of Knighton, Powys, who in the 1980s founded the Snowball Campaign, to encourage mass civil disobedience in connection with anti-nuclear activities.

She has more recebtly been involved in Extinction Rebellion activism.

The Met said that conditions were put in place "after taking into account the cumulative impact of the prolonged period of protest on Jewish Londoners, particularly when protests are in the vicinity of synagogues often on Saturdays, the Jewish holy day."

A spokesperson added: "Officers saw a coordinated effort to breach these conditions which prevented protestors forming up in the vicinity of a synagogue located a short distance from Portland Place. This is despite the PSC agreeing to a static protest and numerous updates from the Met to protestors prior to the march and on the day."

Others charged with public order offences are:

Tessa Roe-Stanton, 20 (03.02.04), of Breakspears Road SE4

Monday Rosenfeld, 21 (22.01.03), of Rhodeswell Road E14

Starr Thomas, 20 (03.08.04), of Breakspears Road SE4

Colin Weedon, 78 (07.08.46), of Richborne Terrace SW8

Christian Adair, 23 (22.10.01), of Adelaide Avenue SE4

Matthew Brennan, 44 (19.04.80), of Church Road, St George, Bristol

David Ok, 40 (01.09.84), of Teighnmouth Road NW2

All ten are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in the coming days.

There have been counter claims online that police allowed many of the demonstrators through.

In addition, three men have agreed to attend voluntarily at a Central London Police Station today to be interviewed under criminal caution as officers investigate a coordinated effort by organisers to breach conditions. The 75-year-old, 73-year-old and 61-year-old will be interviewed by officers this afternoon.

Following the arrests yesterday, 24 people have been bailed and 48 remain in custody.

Commander Adam Slonecki, who led the policing operation, said: “Yesterday we saw a deliberate effort, including by protest organisers, to breach conditions and attempt to march out of Whitehall.

“This was a serious escalation in criminality and one which we are taking incredibly seriously. Officers have worked around the clock to pursue those involved.

“We will continue to work through CCTV footage, videos from social media and our body worn cameras so we can make further arrests and bring forward charges where we identify criminality.

“I’d like to thank officers for their professional response, including those from other forces across the country who assisted. Thankfully no officers were injured during the protest, however three were spat at and one was physically assaulted. They are receiving appropriate support.”

Yesterday, Commander Slonecki said: “We have policed more than 20 national protests organised by the PSC since October 2023.

“This is the highest number of arrests we have seen, in response to the most significant escalation in criminality.

“We could not have been clearer about the conditions in place. Protesters were to remain in Whitehall with no march towards the BBC.

“Our relationship with protest organisers has to be based on trust and good faith. If they say they will act responsibly and lawfully we need to be able to know those are genuine assurances.

“That is why it was so deeply disappointing to see a deliberate effort, involving organisers of the demonstration, to breach the conditions and attempt to march out of Whitehall.

“Officers responded bravely and decisively, ensuring they got no further than Trafalgar Square and certainly nowhere near their target.

“I am quite confident this was a coordinated breach with the intention being to reach the BBC at Portland Place in defiance of the conditions. There is video footage of one of the organisers clearly inciting the crowd to join a march and one of the organisations involved has released a statement this evening confirming as much.

“At the same time as the group was attempting to force its way past police lines, camera crews were seen arriving in Portland Place. It is unlikely that the timing was simply a coincidence.

“We are in possession of footage from officers’ body worn cameras, from CCTV and from social media. We know who was involved in leading the movement of so many people through police lines. Investigations are now underway and we will make every effort to bring prosecutions against those we identify.”

According to the force, the demonstration in Whitehall began largely without incident. There were a number of arrests for public order offences, one for displaying a placard that suggested support for Hamas and Hezbollah and another for pairing a swastika with the Israeli flag.

One protester who entered the conditioned area around Portland Place and refused to leave was also arrested.

However, shortly after 3pm a group that had been present at the north end of Whitehall for some time was joined by a much larger group likely numbering more than 1,000 people.

A line of police officers was breached with the groups making a beeline for the north west corner of Trafalgar Square where they were prevented from going further by another line of officers and two police vans.

At that point officers intervened to arrest one of the organisers of the demonstration who was leading the group from the front.

Clear warnings were given and many people who had been involved chose to act responsibly, turning back and dispersing.

A persistent group intent on continuing to breach the conditions tried to leave Trafalgar Square by other routes but were ultimately contained by officers. More than 60 of that group were arrested.

Full breakdown of the arrests:

65 x breach of conditions

5 x public order offences

2 x obstructing police

1 x support for a proscribed organisation

1 x inciting racial hatred

1 x common assault

1 x assault on an emergency worker

1 x sexual assault