Pro-Palestine protests just hours after Manchester terror attack blasted as 'disgraceful'

Pro-Palestine protesters have taken to the streets of cities and towns just hours after the terror attack in Manchester. The protests, which were pre-organised, have been held in places including Manchester and London.

The protest in Manchester is taking place at the city's Piccadilly station, around three miles away from the scene of the terror attack outside a synagogue in Crumpsall on Thursday morning. Two people were killed in a car and knife attack outside the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar - Yom Kippur. The suspect was shot dead by armed police and Greater Manchester Police said it believes 35-year-old Jihad Al-Shamie, a British citizen of Syrian descent, was responsible for the attack.

Protesters in London gathered outside Downing Street following a protest in Parliament Square.

They are responding to an earlier to call to demonstrate against Israel's interception of a flotilla carrying aid to Gaza.

Greta Thunberg was among the hundreds of activits detained by Israeli forces.

Leader of the the Conservative group in the London Assembly, Susan Hall, said the protests are "disgraceful, disrespectful, despicable behaviour".

Posters shared on social media urged pro-Palestine activists to gather at 19 locations across the UK between 5.30pm and 6pm on Thursday, according to The Telegraph.

Most of the locations were reportedly large railway stations in towns and cities, with activists encouraged to "block the tracks".

Police decided to allow the protest at Manchester Piccadilly - the city's main train station - to go ahead, but a British Transport Police said they would step in if protesters tried to enter the station, The Telegraph reports.

Other stations protesters were encouraged to converge included Cardiff Central, Liverpool Lime Street and Sheffield railway station.

Greater Manchester Police said two members of the Jewish community died and four other people remain in hospital in a serious condition following the attack outside Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue.

The force said three people have been arrested on suspicion of planning a terror attack in connection with the killings.

Greater Manchester Police said two men aged in their 30s and a woman in her 60s have been arrested on suspicion of commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism connected to the incident.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said "additional police assets" will be deployed at synagogues across the country following the attack.