International- People have been laying cards, flowers, and drawings for the Queen at a Holocaust memorial garden.
- "This is so profoundly inappropriate," one rabbi tweeted.
The charity that looks after London's Royal Parks has told people to stop putting flowers and cards dedicated to the late Queen Elizabeth II on a Holocaust memorial garden.
Since the Queen died on September 8, people have been laying tributes to her, including flowers, drawings, cards, teddy bears, and homemade crafts, at sites across the UK.
Green Park, which leads to Buckingham Palace, was originally designated as London's main site for floral tributes. But Hyde Park, about a mile north-west of Buckingham Palace, was turned into a secondary site for floral tributes on Wednesday, and mourners have been encouraged to visit this instead during busy periods.
But as of Sunday evening, some of the tributes had spilled over into the park's Holocaust Memorial Garden.
The tributes to the Queen covered boulders and tree trunks, with some laid on top of the stone marking the area as the Holocaust Memorial Garden.
As well as cards and flowers, some children had left drawings and handwritten letters.
After photos of the tributes to the Queen were shared on Twitter, hundreds of people responded criticizing mourners' use of the site.
"This is so profoundly inappropriate," Rabbi Lev Taylor tweeted.
"This has made me even more virulently anti-monarchist than I was already," one person tweeted. Another called it "horrendously antisemitic."
The Royal Parks tweeted on Monday: "The team are carefully removing the tributes from the Holocaust Memorial and laying them with the others in the official floral tribute area. There is also a steward placed there permanently to direct people paying their respects to the floral tribute area."
The Royal Parks had previously said that tributes to the Queen should only be left in the designated areas in Green Park and Hyde Park. It issued a map of where tributes could be left, which did not include the memorial garden but was close to it.
Tributes laid in other parts of the parks will be brought to the main sites "on a regular basis" if they are still in good condition, the Royal Parks said.
Signs at both tribute gardens tell people to only leave floral tributes, though many mourners have left other items.
"Cards and labels will, however, be accepted and will be periodically removed by The Royal Parks' staff and contractors for storage offsite," the Royal Parks said. "This process will be carried out with discretion and sensitivity."
It added that tributes were likely to be removed from the park between seven and 14 days after the funeral, which took place on Monday. At this point, the flowers will be separated from labels, packaging, and cards and then composted to be used through the Royal Parks.
The Holocaust Memorial Garden, built in 1983, was Britain's first public memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. Six million Jewish people from across Europe died during the Holocaust.