The Met Police has been accused of ‘pure gaslighting’ for insisting Oxford Street did not close today – despite pro-Palestine protests forcing some stores to shut for safety.   

Zara and Puma stores were targeted on London’s famous shopping street, bringing the area to a standstill on one of its busiest days of the year.

Up to a thousand demonstrators marched on Oxford Street, Regent Street and Carnaby Street, this afternoon chanting ‘while you’re shopping, bombs are dropping’.

Scotland Yard’s insistence that Oxford Street did not ‘close down’ while admitting in the same breath ‘some shops did decide to close their doors’ sparked the ire of many people with some accusing the force of ‘pure gaslighting’. 

Tonight, when contacted by MailOnline the Met Police stood by its statement on its X account, formerly known as Twitter, and said no arrests were made during the protests. 

This is despite The Brighton and Hove Palestine Solidarity Campaign sharing that more than 1,000 people had turned out to march from Soho Square towards Oxford Circus, adding that the famous retail street was ‘now completely blocked’ a little after 1pm GMT. 

A shop worker cleans a window on Oxford Street following a pro-Palestine demonstration, organised by direct action group Sisters Uncut, in central London, urging Christmas shoppers to boycott what they called ‘pro-Israel’ brands

The Met Police released a statement on its X account saying they had seen some suggestions Oxford Street was ‘closed down earlier which isn’t really an accurate reflection’  

The force wrote on its X page more than five hours later the suggestion Oxford Street had ‘closed down earlier which isn’t really an accurate reflection of today’s events’. 

‘While a large group of protestors walked down the road, traffic and pedestrians were still able to get around,’ they said. 

‘Officers were with the group throughout and the level of disruption was monitored closely. Some shops did decide to close their doors for a short time whilst the protest passed, but then re-opened and have carried on with their day’s trading. 

‘The area has been packed with people and as you’d expect two days before Christmas. It’s still very busy with lots of shoppers and tourists who have largely been able to carry on as normal.’

The statement caused an outpouring of fury among many X users with one person saying ‘this is pure gaslighting’.

They wrote: ‘YES IT DID. We all saw it! What is wrong with you liars.’

While another added: ‘Put it another way: i would not feel safe if i wanted to go shopping in oxford street with my children. But I guess that is acceptable for you. I assume shops closed while protesters passed because they are all peaceful.’

Zara stores were targeted in Oxford Street by pro-Palestine protesters with shops being forced to close. Some on the march chanted: ‘Zara, Zara, you can’t hide, stop supporting genocide’

The protesters marched into Soho Square, Regent Street and Carnaby Street this afternoon chanting ‘while you’re shopping, bombs are dropping’

The force’s statement sparked fury among users on X, formerly Twitter, with some accusing the Met of ‘pure gaslighting’ 

Protesters during a pro-Palestine demonstration, organised by direct action group Sisters Uncut, in central London, urging Christmas shoppers to boycott what they called ‘pro-Israel’ brands. Picture date: Saturday December 23, 2023

A third called the statement ‘insane’ while a fourth suggested some tourists had cancelled their trips because of the marches. 

‘It’s enough that they are anywhere in the vicinity of Oxford street to have a chilling effect on Christmas shoppers,’ they said. 

One Oxford Street shopper witnessed the marches and labelled them ‘terrible’ and ‘intimidating’.

Writing in response to the Met Police’s statement, she said: ‘How dare you underplay it. Shops close as they were worried for the safety of their staff and customers I was there it was terrible, intimidating and you let it happen.’      

Footage shared on X showed a sea of red, white, green and black as protesters waved flags and balloons while calling for a ceasefire in one of the busiest parts of London.

The demonstration came on a day in which last-minute Christmas shoppers descended on Oxford Street and several other parts of the country for ‘Super Saturday’.

Demonstrators held signs aloft which said ‘Killing children isn’t self-defence. Free Palestine’ and ‘Stop genocide in Gaza. End normalisation with Israel. Withdraw investments from Israel’.

Protesters, who urged Christmas shoppers to boycott ‘Israeli-linked’ brands, stopped outside two Zara stores, both of which had closed and were guarded by security. Some chanted: ‘Zara, Zara, you can’t hide, stop supporting genocide’.

Earlier this month, Zara pulled an promotional campaign following complaints that it contained pictures resembling images from the Israel-Hamas war. 

Protesters march through central London to call for a boycott, Saturday December 23, 2023

Activists said Zara’s campaign – which featured wrapped mannequins and debris – was mocking Gaza, where some 20,000 people have been killed since the start of October

Zara released a statement on Instagram earlier this month, stressing that the campaign was not meant to offend and was conceived before the conflict erupted in October

Demonstrators were also pictured holding Palestinian flags and banners in front of Puma, a company which has long faced boycott calls over its brand alliance with the Israel Football Association.

 There were chants including ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’, a slogan some say insinuates the total removal of Israel, The Telegraph reported.

Police kept a small presence around the procession to safely divert traffic, the Met confirmed to MailOnline today, adding that the march had – as of 2:45pm – moved on from Oxford Street.

There have been no arrests, the Met added. 

The area is already extremely busy as Christmas shoppers have packed out London’s shopping districts today ahead of December 25.

Brits have flocked to Oxford Street, Westfield shopping centre and Smithfield Market, where joints of meat were being sold at an annual auction.

On a day of chaos in Britain, supermarkets have even reported shoppers fighting over trolleys – and even bribing one another to secure one.  

Amid the mayhem on Oxford Street, Sisters Uncut, a ‘feminist group taking direct action against gender-based and state violence’, shared footage of a large march of protesters with different flags, some wearing keffiyehs and others with masks.

They wrote: ‘More than 20,000 Palestinians have been murdered by Israel’s brutal siege. We say, NO BUSINESS AS USUAL AS PEOPLE ARE TRAPPED UNDER RUBBLE. CHRISTMAS IS CANCELLED.’

The Palestinian death toll in Gaza has now surpassed 20,000, according to Palestinian health officials, as Israel continues its devastating bombardment of the Gaza Strip in an effort to snuff out Hamas’ base of operations.

Some 85 per cent of Gaza’s 2.3m population has been displaced by the conflict, following evacuations in the north and south of the 25-mile-long Strip.

The UN has warned that Gaza now faces the ‘highest ever recorded’ levels of food insecurity.

Action Against Hunger classified hunger levels as ‘catastrophic’, signifying a very high risk of famine. 

A quarter of households in Gaza now face acute food insecurity conditions, they noted, meaning ‘lack of food is so extreme that they may suffer from starvation, alarmingly high rates of acute malnutrition among the youngest children and high mortality rates.’

‘Everything we are doing is insufficient to meet the needs of two million people. It is difficult to find flour and rice, and people have to wait hours to access latrines and wash themselves,’ said Noelia Monge, Head of Emergencies for Action Against Hunger, who recently returned from the region.

‘We are experiencing an emergency like I have never seen before.’

Demonstrators were also pictured holding Palestinian flags and banners in front of Puma, a company which has long faced boycott calls over its brand alliance with the Israel Football Association

Protesters call for a ceasefire and demand a boycott on ‘pro-Israel’ brands on Saturday

Demonstrators from a mix of organisations called for an ‘end to Israeli occupation’ in the capital

Graffiti on a store in Canada following the controversial campaign by Zara

Left: Graffiti outside a Montreal store reads ‘You f****d with the wrong generation / Right: protesters march outside a Zara in Canada

Protesters hold a banner up in Carnaby Street, London, which reads: ‘Sisters stand with Gaza. Free Palestine’

Calls for a ceasefire have mounted on all sides as casualties in Gaza mount with no clear way to ensure the safe return of the remaining Israeli hostages trapped in the Palestinian enclave.

Last Saturday, Pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrated outside the home of the Israeli ambassador to the UK, chanting ‘From the river to the sea’ and ‘shame on you!’
The phrase ‘From the river to the sea’ refers to the Jordan River – in Jordan, east of Israel – and the Mediterranean Sea, bordering the Gaza Strip.

Hundreds gathered outside the Camden home of Tzipi Hotovely and called ‘de-decolonise’ and ‘ceasefire now’, with passing cars honking their horns in support.

Hotovely faced wide criticism for rejecting a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine in a video interview with Sky News.

Last week in Tel Aviv, the families of Israeli hostages also called on Israel to stop fighting and make a deal to secure their release after the army admitted ‘mistakenly’ killing three captives in the Palestinian territory.

‘We only receive dead bodies. We want you to stop the fight and start negotiations,’ Noam Perry, daughter of hostage Haim Perry, said at an event in Tel Aviv organised by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

The army’s chief spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, admitted Israeli troops found the hostages and erroneously identified them as a threat. 

He said it was not clear if they had escaped their captors or been abandoned. 

The hostages were found waving a makeshift white flag and crying ‘help’ in Hebrew.

Christmas shoppers pack Oxford Street London just after 12pm this afternoon as one of the busiest shopping days of the year kicks off

Christmas shoppers in Westfield Stratford City in East London, take advantage of pre-Christmas bargains

Butchers walk through Smithfield Market holding joints of meat as customers wave wads of cash

Shoppers pack out a Christmas Market on Trafalgar Square this afternoon as the festive weekend begins

Christmas shoppers descend on a busy Oxford Street in central London today ahead of December 25

Some Palestinian protesters have also targeted Spanish fashion giant Zara in their global marches.

Zara published a promotional campaign earlier this month that protesters objected to, saying a photoshoot appeared to make light of the situation in Gaza.

The photoshoot features a model stood in a dusty workshop with a mannequin wrapped in white. Protesters online said the visuals resembled Gaza’s debris and the tragic scenes of white body bags shown in media. 

Zara said the shoot was ‘conceived in July and photographed in September’ – before the conflict erupted in October – showing models against unfinished sculptures in a workshop to ‘showcase craftmade garments in an artistic context’.

‘Unfortunately, some customers felt offended by these images, which have now been removed, and saw in them something far from what was intended when they were created,’ a statement read earlier this month. ‘Zara regrets that misunderstanding and we reaffirm our deep respect towards everyone.’

Stores worldwide have nonetheless been targeted by some protesters, who have graffitied outlets as far reaching as Tunisia, Canada and Germany.