Officers displayed a “gold standard example of two-tier policing” during a pro-Palestinian march, a former attorney general has said.

On Saturday, more than 300 demonstrators descended on a Jewish area in Westcliff-on-Sea, in Southend, without giving Essex Police the legally required six-days notice.

The area is home to a large Jewish community and has five synagogues where, on Saturday, worshippers were attending services to mark the end of the festival of Passover.

One group was stopped by officers as they tried to get home from a synagogue while demonstrators took to the streets, as critics accused officers of a “disastrous failure” in allowing “intimidating” behaviour.

Michael Ellis, a former Conservative attorney general, accused the force of “two-tier policing” and urged Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, to demand an explanation from the Essex Police’s Chief Constable.

He told The Telegraph: “On the evidence currently available, this has been a disastrous failure on the part of Essex Police. They have fallen far below the acceptable standards in maintaining law and order.

“This is a gold standard example of two-tier policing. After Southport, the Government committed that all minorities would be protected. The police allowed this march to go ahead and then prevented members of the local Jewish community from going about their lawful business. The Home Secretary must call in the Chief Constable of Essex Police to account for this failure.”