The Conservative Party government expanded police powers and moved to weaponize concerns over so-called "extremism" in response to weekly pro-Palestine demonstrations against Israel's assault on Gaza, which were attended by hundreds of thousands in London and other major British cities. Its prominent figures stigmatized nonviolent demonstrators who were exercising their democratic rights, labelling them "hate marchers" and "mobs" and categorizing all opposition to Israel's occupation and war as motivated by bigotry and hatred.