FORMER Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and ex-shadow chancellor John McDonnell are to be quizzed by cops after attending a pro-Palestine rally.
The two MPs, aged 73 and 73, who currently sit as independents in the Commons, were due to voluntarily attend a police station on Sunday afternoon.
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Corbyn previously demanded cops release all bodycam footage, claiming they were part of delegation wishing to lay flowers in memory of children killed in Gaza.
It is unclear if they have yet been interviewed. The Sun has approached the Met for any updates.
The force is investigating what it claims was a coordinated effort by organisers to breach conditions imposed on the demonstration in London yesterday.
The Met said: “Three men have agreed to attend voluntarily at a Central London Police Station today to be interviewed under criminal caution as officers investigate a coordinated effort by organisers to breach conditions.
“The 75-year-old, 73-year-old and 61-year-old will be interviewed by officers this afternoon.”
Corbyn earlier disputed the force’s account of the rally in a post on X on Saturday.
The cops said: “Officers were holding the line at the top of Whitehall to stop any groups marching which would be a breach of the conditions.
“Despite their efforts a large group has forced its way through and are in Trafalgar Square.”
But the ex-Labour chief said: “This is not an accurate description of events at all.
“I was part of a delegation of speakers, who wished to peacefully carry and lay flowers in memory of children in Gaza who had been killed.
“This was facilitated by the police. We did not force our way through.”
He added: “When we reached Trafalgar Square, we informed police that we would go no further, lay down flowers and disperse.
“At that point, the Chief Steward, Chris Nineham was arrested. We then turned back and dispersed.
“I urge the police to release all bodycam footage and retract its misleading account of events.”
McDonnell added: “We did not force our way [through], the police allowed us to go [through] & when stopped in Trafalgar Square we laid our flowers down & dispersed.”
He also urged police to release the bodycam footage of a conversation he had with an officer.
It comes after 10 people were charged with public order offences after the protesters allegedly breached conditions as they marched from a rally in Whitehall to Trafalgar Square, breaking through a police line in the process.
Saturday’s Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) protest was adjusted to be a static rally after police curtailed organisers’ plans for a march past the BBC and near a synagogue, and conditions were put in place that prevented people involved from entering specific areas.
Thousands of demonstrators, including Corbyn and McDonnell marched towards Trafalgar Square from Whitehall after speeches were made at the rally.
Police announced on Saturday that 77 people had been arrested – including Corbyn’s brother Piers Corbyn, the highest number across more than 20 national PSC protests since October 2023.
Some 65 people had been detained for a breach of conditions, five for public order offences, two for obstructing police, one for supporting a proscribed organisation, one for inciting racial hatred, one for common assault, one for assault on an emergency worker and one for sexual assault.
The force said on Sunday that 24 people have been bailed and 48 remain in custody.
Piers Corbyn, 77, of Elephant and Castle, south-east London; Angela Zelter, 73, of Knighton, Powys; Tessa Roe-Stanton, 20, Starr Thomas, 20, Christian Adair, 23, all from Brockley, south-east London; Monday Rosenfeld, 21, of Limehouse, east London; Colin Weedon, 78, of Vauxhall, south-west London; Matthew Brennan, 44, of St George, Bristol; David Ok, 40, of Kilburn, north-west London; and Christopher Nineham, 62, of Bow, east London, were charged with public order offences.
First of three hostages released from Gaza arrives in Israel
The first three hostages released from Gaza have arrived in Israel, the military announced on Sunday, hours after the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took hold.
Their mothers were waiting to meet them.
Footage showed the three women walking to Red Cross vehicles in Gaza City, surrounded by a crowd that swelled into the thousands as people held up cellphones and scrambled onto cars.
The vehicles were accompanied by masked, armed men who wore green Hamas headbands and struggled to guard the handover.
No further glimpses of the three women were immediately expected as they were taken for medical assessment.
They appear to be in good health, President Joe Biden said in brief remarks.
In Tel Aviv, thousands of people who gathered to watch the news on large screens erupted in applause.
For months, many had gathered in the square to demand a ceasefire deal. Relatives of the women jumped, clapped and wept.
An entire nation embraces you, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
Romi Gonen, 24, Emily Damari, 28, and Doron Steinbrecher, 31, were released. Gonen was abducted from the Nova music festival, while the others were kidnapped from Kibbutz Kfar Aza.
Damari is an Israeli-British dual citizen and Steinbrecher has Israeli and Romanian citizenship.
The ceasefire ushers in an initial six weeks of calm and raises hopes for the release of nearly 100 remaining hostages and an end to the devastating 15-month war.
A last-minute delay by Hamas put off the truce’s start by nearly three hours, but the spokesman for Hamas’ military wing later said it is committed to the ceasefire.
Even before the ceasefire took effect, celebrations broke out across Gaza and some Palestinians began heading home.
Next up was the release of 90 Palestinian prisoners later Sunday. In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, families and friends gathered excitedly as cars honked and people waved the Palestinian flag.
The truce, which started at 11.15am local time, is the first step toward ultimately ending the conflict and returning hostages abducted in Hamas October 7, 2023 attack.
In the interim between the planned ceasefire time and when it took hold, Israeli fire killed at least 26 people, according to Gazas Health Ministry. It did not say whether they were civilians or fighters.
The military has warned people to stay away from Israeli forces as they retreat to a buffer zone inside Gaza.
Israels hard-line national security minister, meanwhile, said his Jewish Power faction was quitting the government in protest over the ceasefire. Itamar Ben-Gvirs departure weakens Netanyahus coalition but will not affect the truce.
In a separate development, Israel announced it had recovered the body of Oron Shaul, a soldier killed in the 2014 Israel-Hamas war, in a special operation in Gaza.
The bodies of Shaul and another soldier, Hadar Goldin, had remained after the 2014 war.
The ceasefire deal was announced last week after a year of mediation by the United States, Qatar and Egypt.
They will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in the coming days.
Commander Adam Slonecki said: “Yesterday we saw a deliberate effort, including by protest organisers, to breach conditions and attempt to march out of Whitehall.
“This was a serious escalation in criminality and one which we are taking incredibly seriously. Officers have worked around the clock to pursue those involved.”
He said three officers were spat at and one was assaulted during the protest.
A protest was held on Sunday in support of one of the 10 charged – Nineham, who is vice chair of the Stop the War Coalition (SWC).
SWC national officer John Rees told around 35 supporters gathered outside Walworth police station in south-east London: “This is a first rank all-out assault on the right to free assembly, of the right to free speech.
“It is unprecedented in modern times in British history. It is unprecedented for the police to arrest a senior officer of a major protest organisation in this country, and to combine that with a sweep of hundreds of actors who have been taken into custody, and some of them already charged with similar offences.
“It is, in short, a state attempt to close down protests on the question of Palestine.”
Ahead of the demonstration, the PSC had described the Met’s conditions as “repressive” and called for the force to lift them.
The Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) criticised the Met’s decision to block the march, calling it “an outrageous assault on democracy, freedom of assembly, and freedom of expression”.
“Silencing peaceful protesters who stand against genocide and in solidarity with the oppressed is not only undemocratic but shameful,” MAB said in a statement.
A spokesperson for the Campaign Against Antisemitism described Saturday’s scenes as “a dark day for London”, adding: “For over a year we have called for these marches to be banned; we reiterated that call yesterday when it was clear that the police would not be able to control the situation.
“Police authorised a static protest for activists who repeatedly declared, ‘#WeWillMarch’. The result was chaos in London.”
Before Saturday, the Met denied putting a “ring of steel” around Broadcasting House in Portland Place, but blocked protesters from gathering there because of its close proximity to a synagogue and the risk the demonstration could cause “serious disruption” to the Jewish holy day, as people attended Shabbat services.
The protest was adjusted to be a static rally in Whitehall instead.
