On Saturday July 18th 2026, Parents for Palestine organised and stewarded our usual families and children bloc - hosting activities and offering an accessible space for families to join the National Demo for Palestine.

As we started walking from our meeting point near Somerset House, a man entered the bloc - obstructing families from walking, shouting at children and their parents at the front of the bloc, and attempting to snatch a Palestinian flag from a child. An elderly woman wearing a hijab was knocked to the pavement.

Everyone is now safe. However many members of our community are left feeling shaken. 

We are asking anyone who witness the incident or who has photographs, video recordings or other relevant evidence, to contact us.

EMAIL US AT: parentsforpalestine@gmail.com

What happened next demands urgent attention.

The Met Police are ever present during national demonstrations. Their immediate response in this situation was not to safeguard the children and identify the person who had attacked them. Instead police officers aggressively barged into the crowd and detained a visibly brown Muslim father whose child had been targeted by the attacker. In doing so, police officers tipped over a pram, nearly causing the baby to fall out of it; pushed and shoved young children and parents - including a mum pushing her daughter in a wheelchair - resulting in bruising and injury; and frightened children, causing them to cry and panic.

The father was detained, handcuffed, and separated from the group and his terrified family. The white man who had acted aggressively towards families was only arrested later; we do not know if he was released or not.

Parents who stepped up to advocate for the father were met with hostility from police officers, and had to insist and provide several witness accounts until the police eventually conceded that the violence had been instigated and perpetuated by the man who had attacked the children. In the process some officers questioned parents about their choice to bring their children to a protest.  

This is not the first time we’ve heard this and it represents a deeply troubling approach in the policing of Palestine solidarity protests. Parents who had just experienced a frightening attack were treated as the problem. Responsibility was shifted away from the behaviour of a person being aggressive towards children, and onto families who had exercised their lawful right to protest.

Attempts to drive families out of public demonstrations through intimidation, violence or blame must be resisted.

For nearly three years, families have marched together against the ongoing genocide and occupation of Palestinian people and land. We have nurtured and built community together, strengthening our collective solidarity. Children have carried bunting, made banners, sung, chanted and walked alongside their parents. Their presence is not an invitation for aggression.

We know within the context of the ongoing genocide, violence and aggression against children has been normalised by zionists. Children are deliberately targeted and have been robbed of their sense of safety and protection. 

We must resist the idea that children’s rights and safety are conditional.

UK streets must always be safe for children and families to exercise their rights to protest. Attempts to drive families out of public demonstrations through intimidation, violence, or blame must be resisted.

We are also concerned that, following the incident, a photographer repeatedly photographed the detained father’s wife and family.

Our children witnessed aggression directed towards their bloc and then watched police officers aggressively handle the parents who were trying to protect them. They also witnessed adults in authority blaming their families for placing them in that position.

We reject that blame entirely.

Children are not made safer by excluding them from public life or teaching them that the streets do not belong to them. The police need to be made accountable for: 

• Making our children feel unsafe, and barging into the bloc causing injury and distress 

• Officers’ unnecessary hostility and suspicion towards parents after an apparent act of aggression;

• Detaining and aggressively handling a visibly Muslim father (who was later released without charge)

• Shaming parents for attending a peaceful protest with their children.

We are asking anyone who witnessed the incident, or who has photographs, video recordings or other relevant evidence, to contact us. We particularly want to hear from those who witnessed the initial confrontation, the father’s detention, the treatment of parents by police officers, or the subsequent photographing of the family.

We are sharing this statement to document what happened, but to also add this to many other public testimonies showing police double-standards and aggression towards pro-Palestine solidarity. We are shaken, but we will not be silenced or driven from the streets.

Our children and families have the right to protest. We intend to defend that right and to hold accountable those that undermine it.