An unsettling video has emerged of protesters playing the sound of explosions while shouting 'Allahu Akbar' to rouse crowds in east London on Tuesday night.

Witnesses said that men wearing Islamic dress gathered in Seven Kings near Ilford at 7.45pm.

Two men repeatedly shouted Allahu Akbar into a microphone while playing gunshot sounds at volume on a speaker.

A witness, who asked not to be named said: 'I was alarmed, I didn't know what was going on. When someone shouts Allahu Akbar while playing gunshot sounds on a speaker it is deliberately trying to alarm.

'There was a lot of commotion with a big group shouting and cheering whenever the men got closer with the speaker.'

Allahu Akbar translates from Arabic as 'God is the greatest.' The phrase has earned an unfortunate association with terrorism because extremists have been heard shouting it during recent attacks.

'I have no idea what they were doing, but it was clearly some kind of protest,' the witness said.

A bus driver stopped and asked them to move but the crowd refused and turned the speaker up to drown out the bus driver's requests, the witness said.

'I was alarmed at first but you come to expect things like that, it's become common place in east London.

'People say that they do not condone the loss of life but some believe that attacks like London Bridge are somewhat justified because of our foreign policy, like the war in Iraq.'

The Met Police said they were unaware of the incident.