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Actresses Tracey-Ann Oberman and Maureen Lipman led, with their colleague Eddie Marsan, the massive demonstration against anti-Semitism and in defence of the "British values of tolerance, kindness and safety for all", which took place this Sunday in London. Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the heads of security and immigration in the current Conservative government, Tom Tugenhadt and Robert Jenrick, were also seen at the national protest.

Some 60,000 individuals – more than the organisers' own forecasts – took to the streets, under a leaden sky and enduring the occasional sirimiri, in solidarity with the UK's Jewish community, which has been intimidated since the bloody Hamas attacks last October.

Police arrested ultra Tommy Robinson, founder of the English Defence League (EDL), for refusing to leave the route of the march, which started at the Palace of Justice and ran parallel to the Thames until it reached the ministerial arteries of central London and ended in Parliament Square.

Robinson had called on his followers on social media to join the rally to "let British Jews know that they are not alone." The Campaign Against Semitism banned him as undesirable and fearing that his public support for the movement would "cause harassment and alarm and unease" among the public, according to Scotland Yard.

"It doesn't represent us. He's a racist," Rabbi Ithamar Handleman told El Mundo, as he marched with the tide of demonstrators along the north bank of the river. "This is not a political march, but a protest against the raging anti-Semitism that continues to explode in the UK, the European Union and the rest of the world. In the UK, incidents against Jews have increased by 1,400% since October 8."

Sharon Bierer, daughter of a German Jewish refugee, celebrates the arrest of the "fascist and anti-Semitic leader" English nationalist "How dare he come here?" she asks. Tommy Robinson is a pseudonym under which he hides his real identity, Stephen Lennon, and a long criminal record for fraud, harassment, assault, and drugs, among other crimes. He now risks returning to prison for contempt of court in connection with the persecution of a Syrian refugee, then-schoolboy Jamal Hijazi, according to a 2021 ruling.

Meanwhile, calm and composure spread through the chain of demonstrators and the silence was broken at times to demand the release of all hostages held by Hamas. Many showed images of children and adults imprisoned by the terrorist organization, demanding their "return home."

Up to 1,500 police officers, including operatives from other regions of England, were deployed this weekend of successive marches in favor of the Palestinians and Jewish communities. No major incidents were reported at any of the events, although 18 people were arrested on Saturday for incitement to hearing and other charges against public order. Some 300,000 citizens took part in that demonstration demanding a ceasefire from Israel, according to the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

"Israel had no other options to procure the return of the hostages and protect the border with Gaza," defends the rabbi, who declares himself critical of Benjamin Netanyahu's government and a supporter of the political solution of the coexistence of two states in the region. "It's a war and in wars people die," agrees Londoner Bierer about the high number of Muslims killed in the bombing of the Strip.

Both agree in describing gestures in support of the Palestinian people as "manifestations of hate", which intimidate Jewish communities. "It's the first time in my life that I've felt disowned in my country. I'm 66 years old and I've never experienced anti-Semitism until now," he told this newspaper. A Christian with a British mother, she sums up the situation in Israel as the struggle between David and Goliath. "We are the underdogs, never the favorites. Israel is always blamed and I only understand that as anti-Semitism."