Pro-Palestine protesters marched through the heart of Hendon in northwest London on Monday, shouting slogans outside Jewish establishments in an area still reeling from the antisemitic arson attack on Hatzalah ambulances less than two weeks ago.

Approximately 40 demonstrators marched through the heavily Jewish neighborhood, chanting “genocide” and “the state of Israel has to go” as they passed a kosher restaurant on Kaifeng. Organizers from Barnet Socialists said the march — tied to Palestinian Land Day, marked annually on March 30 — was directed at the UK headquarters of the Jewish National Fund, which the group accused of seeking to “colonize” Palestinian land.

Barnet Labour Councillor Sara Conway called it “deeply concerning and unacceptable,” saying the demonstrators had “brought intimidation to the streets of Barnet at a time when the Jewish community is feeling so vulnerable following the counter terrorism arrests and the arson attack on Hatzola.”

Conway said police were not notified of the unannounced protest in advance but praised officers for arriving within ten minutes of being called.

Hendon MP David Pinto-Duschinsky was more pointed. He called it “utterly appalling, completely unacceptable and clearly antisemitic,” noting that the protesters had chosen to demonstrate “at the heart of a quiet residential neighborhood with a large Jewish community that is still in shock from the despicable antisemitic attack on Hatzola Golders Green, less than a mile away.” He said he is in close contact with the Community Security Trust and police.

The National Jewish Assembly rejected the protesters’ framing outright. “Coming to Hendon to stage a protest achieves nothing but inflaming tensions and intimidating residents,” the group said. “This is not a protest; it is harassment.”

The Hatzalah arson attack, in which four emergency vehicles were destroyed in Golders Green on March 23, was declared an antisemitic hate crime by police. Monday’s march took place twelve days later, in the same northwest London corridor.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)