Police last night were called out to break up a group of people that had gathered in front of the Israeli embassy to protest Israel's attacks on targets in Gaza.

Over 20 people had gathered at the embassy in Hellerup around 8:30pm and spray-painted the words “Børne dræbere” (Child killers) on the white walls that surround the compound. The group had thrown Roman candles and was on its way away from the scene when the authorities arrived.

“There were between 20 and 30 people that congregated by the embassy sporting a Palestinian flag. They have thrown Roman candles and maybe some rocks as well. They’ve definitely thrown something,” Henrik Olsen, police spokesperson for the Copenhagen Police, told Jyllands-Posten newspaper. “And they’ve also graffiti-sprayed the embassy walls.”

Of the 20 people the police managed to collar, only one was detained, but they noted the names of the other 19 as part of their vandalism investigation.

“We stopped 20 people when we arrived, and one of them was detained because he had a spray can and he fit the description from some surveillance,” Olsen told Jyllands-Posten.

The episode comes in the wake of the escalating of violence in the region after Israel reacted to Hamas-led rocket strikes on Israeli towns. Israel retaliated by killing a number of Hamas leaders but hundreds of civilians have been caught in the crossfire.

Foreign minister Villy Søvndal has appealed to both sides to cease fighting.