The lone man brandishing an Israeli flag chased down a London street and surrounded on Saturday by furious pro-Palestine protesters told MailOnline tonight ‘They wanted to kill me’.
Vahid Beheshti, 46, moved to Britain from Iran 25 years ago and was seen in dramatic video footage shared online.
It showed pro-Palestinian protesters’ anger boiling over as they were seen trampling on Israeli flags, before Mr Behesti had to be encircled by police officers for protection.
The flashpoint happened as two women were spotted with images of paragliders stuck to their jackets in an apparent reference to Hamas militants.
He told MailOnline he was attacked three times by pro-Palestinian protesters yesterday.
Mr Behesti said: ‘I had the Israeli flag. They pushed me. I ran to them and pushed them back. Every day I think this is my last day.
‘We got attacked three times. They were chanting to me, they wanted to kill me.
‘The first time they attacked they ripped the Israeli flag and then 60 police officers were protecting me.’
Vahid Beheshti, 46, moved to Britain from Iran 25 years ago and was seen in dramatic video footage shared online
Mr Behesti said: ‘I had the Israeli flag. They pushed me. I ran to them and pushed them back. Every day I think this is my last day’
Vahid was attacked for a second time before police officers forced the protesters back.
He claimed: ‘The third time they took the flag. Hundreds of them attacked. Thank God the police got extra forces there. One of these guys said he was going to cut my head. He was waiting for the moment. The officer said they found a knife with him.
‘We have heart for both sides. Our war is with the terrorists.’
It came during nationwide pro-Palestinian rallies on Saturday which saw thousands take to the streets of cities including London, Glasgow, Manchester, Liverpool and Bristol.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman today issued a stark warning to demonstrators, accusing some of glorifying terrorism and promoting genocide, as she said: ‘The police are coming for you.’
Tensions were high at the London rally yesterday amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, which controls Palestine with its population of more than two million and is widely seen as a terrorist group.
A few scuffles broke out at the otherwise largely peaceful demonstrations, which were marred by the pictures of paragliders and a separate incident in Glasgow in which a woman was filmed shouting: ‘Don’t forget where the Jews were in 1940.’
Another pro-Palestinian rally is taking place in Birmingham today.
Police officers created a barricade around the man as pro-Palestinian protesters shouted abuse
People in one video shared on X were seen with an image of paragliders stuck to their backs
Protesters let off smoke canisters in central London as they gather in support of Palestinians
Pro-Palestanian supporters protest in Birmingham City Centre on Sunday
Protesters in Birmingham held signs saying ‘free Palestine’ and ‘ethnic cleansing supported by western democracies’
Footage recorded outside the UK’s Foreign Office showed a lone man with an Israeli flag running from dozens of pro-Palestine protesters before he is knocked to the ground.
One person appears to be shouting ‘submit’ as the man, who wears a black coat, scrambles to get on his feet again and pick up his flag.
Protesters then continue to chase him for a short distance as police officers attempt to catch up, with one telling everyone to ‘calm down’.
An officer is then able to grab the man, placing himself between him and the other protesters, as two other officers grapple with protesters.
Fortunately for the man, around a dozen officers arrive within seconds and quickly encircle him as protesters continue to shout abuse at him.
Officers quickly pushed protesters away from the man, shouting at them to get back, as others fight their way through the mob to reinforce them.
Multiple protesters were seen filming the incident on their phones, with one using a selfie stick to get a better view.
Elsewhere, a photo emerged of two young women who had sellotaped a picture of a paraglider on the back of their jackets in apparent reference to the Hamas incursion into Israel.
One of the women could be heard chanting: ‘The UK is a terrorist state’.
Police have since launched an appeal to identify the women. In a statement on social media, the force said: ‘Officers investigating a public order offence wish to identify two women who attended the protests yesterday; at present we only have a ‘front on’ image of the woman in red We ask these women or anyone who knows their identity to contact officers via 101, ref 3077/15oct.’
Thousands of people took to the streets of Birmingham on Sunday afternoon
Protestors gather in Whitehall, outside Downing Street, on October 14, 2023
Protesters march near to Whitehall in London on Saturday
Police officers arrest a protester close to Downing Street during a March for Palestine
The Pro-Palestine protest in London has turned ugly as activists started hurling objects at police
Militants used paragliders to sail over the border fence and gain access to southern Israel, where they kidnapped more than 100 people and killed 1,300.
At a desert music festival on a Jewish holiday last Saturday, some of the paragliders left the world shocked and horrified after they attacked revellers from the air with machine guns, slaughtering 250 people.
Elsewhere, Hamas terrorists all but wiped out villages and burnt entire families in their homes, also killing babies and reportedly decapitating them.
In response, Israel has besieged the entire Gaza strip, prompting accusations of war crimes, and launched a non-stop bombardment which has so far killed more than 2,300 Palestinians.
Ahead of an expected ground invasion, crowds took to the UK’s streets to protest in solidarity with suffering Palestinians – but some went further.
In Glasgow, one protestor was seen appearing to goad Jewish people about the Holocaust, telling them: ‘Don’t forget where the Jews were in 1940.’
The clip, which appears to have been filmed in Glasgow’s Buchanan Street, shows a woman wearing a Palestinian flag as a cape and a black and white keffiyeh – a scarf that has become a symbol of support for Palestinian people.
She gestures and swears at an unseen person off-screen, before making reference to Nazi concentration camps and the Holocaust, which killed approximately six million Jewish people.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman issued a stark warning to demonstrators at pro-Palestine rallies, some of whom she said were involved in glorifying terrorism.
In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, she said: ‘Thank you to police officers who worked so hard yesterday in difficult circumstances to manage tens of thousands of protesters.
‘Numerous arrests were made as a result of pockets of disorder, violence and hate.
Palestine flags and supportive placards are waved as people chanted, with Metropolitan Police and community support officers stationed nearby
Police officers make an arrest in Trafalgar Square on October 14, 2023. The Met said 15 had been arrested in London on Saturday evening
Protesters holding Palestinian flags climb the Eros statue at Piccadilly Circus during a ‘March For Palestine’, part of a pro-Palestinian national demonstration, in London on October 14
‘To all those who saw fit to promote genocide, glorify terrorism and mock the murder of Jewish people, including women and babies – the police are coming for you.’
Other clips showed police officers in London being forced in intervene after a small number of protesters were seen trampling over an Israeli flag.
One protester can be heard making an emotional plea to the group of young men to stop, saying: ‘We don’t do this. Stop. It’ll make us look bad, they’ll call us terrorists.’
The Met Police deployed more than 1,000 officers for the protests amid fear of clashes – and dozens secured a ring of steel around the Israel Embassy to block activists who marched towards the building from central London.
A total of 23 people were arrested in London, including for criminal damage. Nine police officers needed treatment for minor injuries.
Announcing eight new arrests on Sunday, a statement read: ‘In the evening there were small pockets of disorder and unacceptable criminality towards police officers in Trafalgar Square. Nine officers were treated for minor injuries.
‘Seven arrests were made during the protest. Four were for breach of section 60AA of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act, two for public order offences and one for criminal damage.
‘The evening saw a further eight arrests for offences including assaults on emergency workers, setting off fireworks in a public place and public order offences.
‘Police officers are urgently viewing footage and other material of the protest and the aftermath. Where we have evidence of criminal offences having been committed, officers will work to identify and arrest those responsible.’
The London protest started at Portland Place at around 12pm and was due to finish at Whitehall at 3pm.
But huge crowds carried on marching through the heart of the capital to nearby Trafalgar Square, where tempers flared as police appeared to arrest a man up against the iconic plinth. One activist launched a firework towards officers.
Police were forced to intervene with batons to get the crowd to disperse.
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