PSNI probe launched after Pro-Palestinian protesters halt council meeting in Londonderry

The protestors, some with their faces covered, held up a banner saying: "Expel the Israeli Ambassador."

The 's' letters in the banner were written like the symbol of the SS, a Nazi military unit.

The protesters said they wanted Derry and Strabane Council to fully implement a motion to boycott Israeli goods.

When asked for a comment on the Londonderry meeting, a PSNI spokesman said: "Police are aware of an online video of a verbal altercation at a meeting in the Guildhall in Derry/Londonderry on Wednesday 22 November. Enquiries are ongoing”.

Some unionist councillors have condemned the protest as antisemitic, according to the BBC.

Sinn Fein Mayor, Patricia Logue, suspended the meeting early and said the protest had left some staff "unnerved".

Catherine Hutton, of the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign, was due to address the meeting at the time and told councillors the campaign group is against antisemitism in any form.

Speaking to BBC News NI about the banner, Ms Hutton said it "does not have anything to do with us".

She said that while she agrees with the statement calling for expulsion of the Israeli ambassador, she "does not agree with the Nazi insignias" and that her group is "against all sorts of discrimination".

The BBC are also reporting that earlier, the mayor had asked those protestors who had covered their faces to "take down their masks in the interests of openness".

The DUP said the protesters were allowed to proceed into the chamber without challenge from the mayor or council officials.

It added that it had previously raised concerns about the intimidation of elected officials.

A Derry City and Strabane District council spokeswoman said "a grouping" had entered the public gallery and council had suspended standing orders, with the meeting being subsequently adjourned.

Some political parties and campaign groups across the island have called for Israel's ambassador to Ireland to be expelled following the start of the Israel-Gaza war.