Protesters filled the streets of central London on Saturday (Picture: PA)
A man has been jailed after hitting a police officer over the head with a megaphone.
Atif Shafiq, 41, was attending a pro-Palestinian protest in Whitehall on Saturday.
He was among a reported 100,000 protesters who took to the streets of central London, calling for a ceasefire.
Shafiq left the Metropolitan Police officer needing stitches after he pulled the megaphone ‘to shoulder height’ before he ‘hit the victim around the head’.
The officer suffered a ‘large laceration’ and needed two stitches when he was taken to hospital.
District Judge Denis Brennan told Shafiq his actions could have ‘provoked a volatile reaction from the crowd’.
Shafiq, a father of four from Walthamstow in east London, appeared at Highbury magistrates court wearing a T-shirt with a Palestine flag and ‘love Palestine’ on the back.
The court heard Shafiq, who had attended numerous protests in the past, ended up behind the police cordon with a number of other protesters before ignoring police orders to ‘get back’.
Sentencing Shafiq to six months in jail, District Judge Brennan said: ‘This country has an honourable tradition of peaceful protest.
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‘What you did was assault a police constable who was on duty causing him a serious injury.’
Shafiq was also ordered to pay the injured officer £200 in compensation.
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Atif Shafiq, 41, was attending a pro-Palestinian protest in Whitehall on Saturday.
