Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Britain is descending into “mob rule” because of the pressures created by protests against the Israel-Hamas war — words criticised as alarmist by a human rights group.

Sunak told a meeting of police leaders on Wednesday that there was a “pattern of increasingly violent and intimidatory behaviour” that’s intended to “shout down free debate and stop elected representatives doing their job”.

“There is a growing consensus that mob rule is replacing democratic rule,” he said, according to a transcript released by the prime minister’s office. “And we’ve got to collectively, all of us, change that urgently.”

Tom Southerden of Amnesty International said on Thursday that talk of mob rule “wildly exaggerates the issue and risks delegitimising the rights of peaceful protest”.

Mass protests have drawn hundreds of thousands of people to central London almost weekly to call for a ceasefire in a conflict that has killed more than 30,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. Israel says Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, and abducted roughly 250, in the October 7 attack.

The protests have been peaceful, though there have been dozens of arrests over signs and chants allegedly supporting Hamas, a banned organisation in Britain. Jewish organisations and many lawmakers say the mass marches have created an intimidating atmosphere for Jewish Londoners.

Divisions over the conflict in Gaza have convulsed British politics, with some lawmakers saying they fear for their safety after receiving threats over their positions on the war.