Anti-war riff-raff were chanting and screeching during a London protest against Syrian bombing on Friday – and then an actual Syrian turned up.

Awkward:

Hassan Akkad, from Damascus, asked why the group was not protesting against President Assad instead, but was drowned out.

He said: “British people not letting a Syrian say something about Syria in a protest about Syria. It’s mad.”

The 29-year-old said he had wanted to be the voice of Syrians who were still in the country but left the protest “livid”.

After a video of the encounter was shared widely online, Mr Akkad told the BBC: “I didn’t see them protesting against the chemical attacks, I didn’t see them protesting against Putin bombing Syria for the last two years.

“I wanted to go to that protest and I wanted to observe.

“I went to the protest and I saw a group of 30 people with placards, not a single mention of Assad.

“All the placards are against Donald Trump and they’re repeating baseless slogans with their megaphones.”

He added: “I went to them respectfully and said, ‘Listen I’m a Syrian refugee who lives here and I have an opinion, it’s a protest about Syria I want to say something’.

“They didn’t even address me, they ignored my existence.”

Poor fellow. He didn’t fit the narrative.