PROTESTERS held a “die-in” outside the Israeli embassy on Saturday following an escalation of violence and revenge attacks in the occupied Territories.

More than 1,000 people brought traffic to a standstill at the embassy in Kensington to decry the burning alive of a Palestinian teenager following the prior kidnap and murder of three Israeli boys.

The demonstrators also called for an end to Israel’s military occupation of Palestinian land.

In tense scenes police blocked placard-carrying protesters who shouted “Stop the killing, stop the crime, Israel out of Palestine.”

And officers dragged away people lying on the road outside the embassy.

The protest was organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), with members of the Stop the War Coalition and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament also attending.

A PSC statement said: “Palestinians living under Israeli occupation are currently facing a horrific escalation of racism and violence as the Israeli state pursues a strategy of collective punishment.”

PSC director Sarah Colborne told the Star: “We had well over 1,000 people attend. They were mobilised at short notice because they are revolted at what has been going on.

“There were people from all walks of life there who were appalled at the attacks on Palestinians in Gaza, Jerusalem and the West Bank.

“It was one of many around the world and we are ready to respond in case of future escalations.”

Ms Colborne also had a message for the British government.

“It is insufficient for the government to issue messages of condolences to the families of the bereaved,” she said.

“They need to enforce international law and demand that Israeli leaders, including Benjamin Netanyahu, stop inciting racial hatred and violence.”

The protest was organised after autopsy reports found that 16-year-old Mohammed Abu Khdeir had been burned to death after he was kidnapped last week outside a mosque in east Jerusalem. Many believe he was murdered by far-right Jewish extremists.

Later the same week his 15-year-old cousin Tariq Abu Khdeir was beaten unconscious by masked Israeli military police.