Gaza protesters have been warned by the city’s council leader that anti-semitic behaviour will not be tolerated.

Sir Richard Leese claims some of the language used in recent days ‘would not have been out of place in 1930s Germany’.

His comments have been roundly rejected by the organised protest currently camped out on King Street - with campaigners insisting they have a ‘zero tolerance’ policy on racism.

Over the weekend supporters of both sides in the spiralling Gaza conflict clashed outside Israeli beauty shop Kedem.

That followed more than a week of demonstrations over the mounting conflict.

In that time Sir Richard has been growing worried about an anti-semitic element.

He told Wednesday’s full council meeting: “There is no doubt that the current conflict has inflamed emotions in this country and we support, as we always have, the right of Manchester people to peacefully protest.

“However, this council cannot support those who seek to bring this conflict into our city and drive wedges between communities whose home is not the Middle East but is here in Manchester.

“We cannot support the use of language that would not have been out of place in 1930s Germany. We cannot support Manchester businesses, their staff and their customers being subject to abuse and intimidation as they attempt to go about their ordinary, everyday lives.

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“We do expect police to ensure that right to peaceful protest is maintained but we also expect them to deal robustly with anti-semitic incitement, just as we would Islamophobia, homophobia or any other hate crime and we expect them to protect the right of shops to trade, shopworkers to work and their customers to visit them and to do so without fear.”

But pro-Palestinian protester Saba Sadik said she was ‘distressed’ at the claims and said any suggestion they were intimidating shop workers was ‘shocking and offensive’.

She added: “This is not a religious issue in any way.

“We are protesting the genocide of the Palestinian people. We are a group of many ages, races, and religions and this includes those of the Jewish faith.

“We have a zero tolerance policy to the spreading of any kind of hate. It directly opposes what we are about.”

The police are not thought to have had any complaints of anti-semitic behaviour by protesters.