Police were forced to escort around 20 neo-Nazi protesters out of Westminster on Saturday afternoon after they staged an “anti-Jewification” protest.

Hundreds of counter-protesters chanted “Scum, scum, scum” as they followed the far-right activists from Whitehall towards Westminster tube station. Lines of police kept the two groups apart.

The demonstration against the Shomrim, a Jewish neighbourhood watch group, was originally due to be held in the strongly Jewish community of Golders Green, north-west London, but was confined to a static demonstration in Whitehall.

Their numbers were dwarfed by anti-fascists, who targeted them with chants of: “Nazi scum – off our streets”, drowning out speeches the neo-Nazis made from behind police lines.

Far-right activists had planned their protest for the sabbath in an area with a 40% Jewish population. They planned to burn copies of the Talmud – the book of Jewish law and tradition – and effigies, in private in order to avoid arrest but filmed for sharing online.

But the Metropolitan police decided to impose conditions under the Public Order Act 1986, moving the demonstration to Whitehall and limiting it to one hour. They said senior officers did not have the legal power to ban a static protest, had a duty to safeguard the right to protest and could not impose unreasonable restrictions upon that right.

The outrage sparked by the plans for the original neo-Nazi demonstration quickly led to a campaign dubbed Golders Green Together (GGT).

Over recent weeks GGT has leafleted the area, lobbied MPs and the police, and urged local shops to drape their properties with gold and green banners and ribbons as a symbol of defiance.

Police were on the scene in Golders Green on Saturday in case any neo-Nazis did show up. In Westminster, when it became clear the rightwingers were being escorted down steps and towards the station, one of the pursuers chanted: “Nazi scum - off our tubes.”

Officers accompanied the neo-Nazis through the barrier and towards the trains.

