London police last night arrested hundreds of protesters for supporting a banned pro-Palestinian group at a demonstration on Saturday which went ahead despite requests to call it off after a deadly attack at a synagogue in Manchester, Reuters reports.

Organisers refused requests by the police and government to call off Saturday’s demonstration, which had been announced before the attack, to protest against the banning of pro-Palestinian group Palestine Action under anti-terrorism laws.

As of 5:30pm GMT (10:30pm PKT), police said 442 people had been arrested — around half the number arrested at a similar protest in September.