Northern Ireland-style policing of protests could be considered as an alternative to Parliament’s “permissive” approach, the head of Scotland Yard has said.

The Metropolitan Police has come under intense criticism in the past year over its policing of large-scale pro-Palestinian protests that were said to have turned central London into a “no-go zone for Jews”.

Last weekend, protesters marched through central London brandishing banners in support of the terror group Hezbollah including “Hezbollah are not terrorists” and “I love Hezbollah”.

Several arrests were made at the march, which attracted some 70,000 demonstrators and came just before the first anniversary of the Oct 7 attacks by Hamas on southern Israel.