Annie Rose

As protests staged around the UK took an ugly turn, a police officer stepped into confiscate an Israeli flag from pro-Palestine demonstrators who gathered on it and threatened to burn it. In the face of clashes, the Met Police has sent more than 1,000 police officers to London - and hundreds of protesters have now acquired a ring of steel around the Israel Embassy to discourage protesters from gathering there. As pro-Palestine supporters took to the streets in their numbers today, some have been pictured trampling on an Israeli flag while others attempted to burn it before a police officer demanded: 'Give it here now!' A group of protesters can be seen gathered around an Israeli flag, which they almost set on fire before an officer intervened. When the officer is confronted by violent demonstrators, he leaps in and retrieves the flag.

During the Israel-Hamas war, the Metropolitan Police Service would deploy more than 1,000 police officers to cover the protest, in which demonstrators will march in solidarity with Palestinians in the Israel-Hamas conflict. Palestinians have started a mass exode from northern Gaza after Israel's military told them to evacuate ahead of an impending ground invasion. Following attacks on Israel that killed at least 1,300 people, mainly civilians, Palestinians. During the uproar over its refusal to identify Hamas terrorists, the BBC headquarters, which is close to the start of the planned demonstration, was sprayed with red paint this morning. In the midst of a significant rise in reported hate crimes since the start of the conflict last Saturday, the Met Police sent 300 officers specifically to tackle safety concerns for London's Jewish population.