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Footage captured by reporter Chris Sharp showed the moment police appeared to attempt to stop demonstrators marching on Downing Street.

When crowds gathered outside the gates guarding Number 10 they chanted pro-Palestine slogans. Police said an order was in place and urged the demonstrators to disperse.

Demonstrators who have broken away from the Trafalgar Square Palestine Action protest have now reached the gates of Downing Street.

Sir Keir Starmer and senior ministers had asked the organisers of today’s march to consider postponing the event after the terror attacks on a synagogue in Manchester.

But, as these pictures from reporter Chris Sharp show, the march has now made it to the gates guarding Number 10.

Seth, 47, told reporter Chris Sharp that he was a British Jew and that he did not think the demonstration should have been postponed because of the terror attack in Manchester.

He added: “The campaign today is about the war in Gaza and I think if we want to stop antisemitism in Britain, we’ve got to stop pretending that all Jewish people support what the Israeli army is doing in Palestine.”

A protester in Trafalgar Square told reporter Chris Sharp that he had come to demonstrate against the ban on Palestine Action.

Speaking about the ban, Patrick, 75, said: “It’s an extremely repressive thing for the British government to (have) intervened in that way.”

Patrick added that he believed the government was supporting a “Zionist regime”, adding: “The police are involved in this conspiracy as well.”

The Metropolitan Police are continuing to process people at the pro-Palestine protest in central London which has gone ahead despite pleas for a cancellation in light of the deadly terror attack on a synagogue in Manchester on Thursday.

The police have had to establish a processing area for people who have been detained as large numbers try to flout terror legislation which bans showing support for the group Palestine Action.

The Metropolitan Police said 175 people have been arrested during protests in London in support of the proscribed group Palestine Action.

Greater Manchester Police said they have been granted warrants to keep four people arrested in connection with the synagogue terror attack in custody for another five days.

In a statement the force said: “Our investigation into the appalling terrorist incident that took place outside the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue is continuing at pace.

“The investigation is being led by Counter Terrorism Policing North West (CTPNW), supported by resources from across the national Counter Terrorism Policing (CTP) network and Greater Manchester Police.

“Significant resources from across CTP have been mobilised in order to establish the full picture into what has happened.

“We have been granted warrants of further detention for four individuals currently in custody. This means they can remain in custody for up to a further five days.

“They are: a 30-year-old man – Arrested in Prestwich, a 61-year-old woman – Arrested in Prestwich, a 32-year-old man – Arrested in Prestwich, a 46-year-old woman – Arrested in Farnworth.

“An 18-year-old woman and a 43-year-old man, who were arrested in Farnworth, remain in custody for questioning.

GMP added that “everyone in custody has been arrested on suspicion of commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism” and that “enquiries are ongoing”.

Paula Dodds, chairwoman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, has said officers policing today’s protest in London are “emotionally and physically exhausted”.

Ms Dodds said: “Enough is enough. Our concentration should be on keeping people safe at a time when the country is on heightened alert from a terrorist attack. And instead officers are being drawn in to facilitate these relentless protests.

“And we are coming under attack for doing so. How can this be right?

“This appalling level of abuse will not be tolerated and we expect the stiffest sanctions for the perpetrators. We are supporting officers as best we can.”

She added: “There aren’t enough of us. Hard-working police officers are continually having days off cancelled, working longer shifts and being moved from other areas to facilitate these protests.

“We are emotionally and physically exhausted. What are politicians and senior police officers going to do about it?”

Green Party MPs, members and supporters including new leader Zack Polanski have formed a “red line for Palestine” along Bournemouth seafront.

The party, which is having its conference in the seaside town this weekend, described the demonstration as “a show of unity and solidarity … and a demand on the UK government to impose sanctions on Israel”.

Peaceful protesters in Trafalgar Square are continuing to be arrested by officers from the Met and City of London for holding signs in support of the Palestine Action group.

An elderly woman who was sat with a cardboard sign face-down on her lap was among those carted off for processing by the police.

Some campaigners are also singing the protest song We Shall Not Be Moved and waving Palestinian flags.

Luke Akehurst, Labour MP for North Durham has said today’s protest shows “sadly predictable extremely poor taste” after this week’s terror attack on a Manchester synagogue.

“The right to protest is an important one, but it’s in sadly predictable extremely poor taste that pro-Palestinian demos are going ahead even as the British Jewish community is in mourning after a terror attack,” he said.

“These repeated demos on the same subject feature an extremist fringe, make Jewish people feel unsafe and waste millions in policing costs.

“It was never the intention of the laws around demos that you could just come back weekend after weekend to cause huge disruption repeatedly making the same point.”

Protesters in Manchester gathered to listen to speeches near the cathedral before beginning a march through the city this afternoon.

The final speaker vowed to “dismantle the Zionist state” to cheers and applause from the crowd. Attendees were told that a national march is also planned for London next week and another in Manchester on October 7, the anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel.

Demonstrators banged drums and chanted “Free Palestine!” as they began their march, but counter-protesters ran out in front of them, holding flags and shouting “F*** Hamas and “release the hostages”.

An estimated 700 protesters have gathered in Trafalgar Square holding signs with the message: “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action”.

Many are being carried off by officers to the southwest side of the square where police vehicles are waiting to process the arrests.

David Rich, director of policy at the Community Security Trust, which provides security to the Jewish community, has criticised the decision to go ahead with today’s demonstration in the wake of Thursday’s terror attack.

“I think it’s phenomenally tone deaf, to say the least, for so many people who claim to care about human rights and care about freedoms, to be taking police resources away from protecting the rights and freedoms of Jewish people to live their lives and go to synagogue in safety, all to support a proscribed terrorist organisation, which is not the same thing as supporting the Palestinians,” he told the BBC. “The two are not the same.”

Protest group Defend Our Juries said more than 1,500 people signed a pledge making a firm commitment to join today’s action in London and risk arrest under the Terrorism Act.

A spokesperson said the demonstration is expected to attract hundreds more who didn’t register in advance, making it “the biggest ever” event in defiance of the ban on Palestine Action.

A vicar is among those who have been arrested in Trafalgar Square for sitting with her eyes closed holding a poster which said: “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.”

Some people in the crowd called the officers “shameful” and one said “thanks for protecting us” as the woman was taken away.

Others holding similar signs have also been pictured being carried away by police.

A member of the group behind today’s pro-Palestine protest said it would be “unwise” to heed calls to cancel it.

Human rights campaigner Sir Jonathan Porritt told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme: “I have no doubt whatsoever that everyone taking part in the Defend Our Juries’s silent vigil today will demonstrate huge respect and real grief for those affected by the absolute atrocity at Heaton Park.

“But I don’t think that means that we should be asked to give up on our right to stand up for those who are being devastated by an ongoing, real-time genocide in Gaza.”

The Met Police have begun making arrests at a protest organised by the Defend Our Juries group that began in Trafalgar Square at 1pm.

Two elderly men were among those seen being carried by each limb by officers as crowds clapped and cheered. The force said on X that people displaying placards in support of Palestine Action are being detained.

“The square is busy, but quite a few people in the crowd appear to be observing/supporting but not carrying placards themselves,” a statement read.

It is “disgraceful” that pro-Palestine protests have gone ahead in London as well as Manchester in the wake of the deadly synagogue attack, Tory shadow home secretary Chris Philp has said.

“I think it’s extremely insensitive, grossly insensitive to the Jewish community in Manchester, but across the whole United Kingdom, who are still grieving following the appalling murder that we saw on Thursday morning,” he told BBC Breakfast.

“And secondly, both the police in Greater Manchester, but also the Metropolitan Police in London have said that the resources, the police resources required to police these protests mean they may not be able to properly protect synagogues and the Jewish community at this obviously very sensitive time.

“So for those two reasons, I think the organisers should call off these protests.

“I think it’s frankly disgraceful that they have not done so.”

Six pro-Palestinian demonstrators have been arrested for draping a banner on Westminster Bridge in support of the Palestine Action group, the Metropolitan Police has confirmed.

The force said: “Officers were quickly on scene, the banner had been removed and the six people involved have been arrested for supporting a proscribed organisation.”

Pro-Palestine demonstrators were urged to reconsider today’s event by the Prime Minister and police chiefs in London and Manchester in the aftermath of two people being killed in a terror attack at a synagogue.

Sir Keir Starmer urged the groups behind the demonstration to “respect the grief of British Jews”. Writing in The Jewish Chronicle, he added: “This is a moment of mourning. It is not a time to stoke tension and cause further pain.”

Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police Sir Stephen Watson also urged would-be attendees at the protest to “consider whether this is really the right time”.

Commissioner for the Met Police Sir Mark Rowley added: “At a time when we want to be deploying every available officer to ensure the safety of those communities, we are instead having to plan for a gathering of more than 1,000 people in Trafalgar Square on Saturday in support of a terrorist organisation.

“Continuing such protests within hours of Thursday’s awful terrorist murder of British Jews, when communities are most fearful, will likely create further tensions and some might say lacks sensitivity.”

Good afternoon and welcome to our live coverage of the Palestine Action demonstration currently taking place in central London.

Keep an eye on this blog for breaking news and updates as we get them.