Hundreds of thousands of pro-Palestine protesters took part in a rally in Whitehall after marching through central London.
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign has estimated that over 500,000 people were involved in the demonstration, which started along Victoria Embankment and ended with speeches close to Downing Street on Saturday afternoon.
Following the demonstration at least 16 Youth Demand activists were arrested after Tower Bridge was blocked off, the protest group said.
The Met Police said officers responded to a group of Youth Demand activists blocking the famous bridge and “causing serious disruption” on Saturday evening.
Earlier in the day, a pro-Israel campaign called Stop The Hate had organised a counter-protest, at the junction of Aldwych and the Strand. Police said they had made a small number of arrests as counter-demonstrators joined the pro-Palestine protest.
Scotland Yard said it has imposed conditions under the Public Order Act to “prevent serious disruption” during the demonstrations.
The protests come as thousands of Palestinians return to their ruined homes after a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into effect.
Follow the latest updates below...
Key Points
- Over 500,000 people have taken part in Pro-Palestine march on Saturday, claims Palestine Solidary Campaign
- Countdown begins for Hamas to release remaining Israeli hostages
- Route and road closures revealed ahead of massive march
- Police brace for huge Gaza protest and counter-demo in central London
Live coverage ends
Saturday 11 October 2025 20:49 , Jacob PhillipsThe Standard’s live coverage of Saturday’s protests have ended.
You can read more about the protests in our article below.
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Arrests as thousands gather for pro-Palestine march to mark two years since Gaza war
At least 16 Youth Demand activists arrested
Saturday 11 October 2025 19:53 , Jacob PhillipsYouth Demand has said at least 16 young people have been arrested after Tower Bridge was blocked by protesters.
The Met Police had said officers responded to a group of activists blocking the famous bridge and “causing serious disruption” on Saturday evening.
Arrests made after Youth Demand activists block Tower Bridge
Saturday 11 October 2025 19:18 , Jacob PhillipsA number of Pro-Palestine activists have been arrested after blocking Tower Bridge, the Met Police has said.
The force said officers responded to a group of Youth Demand activists blocking the famous bridge and “causing serious disruption” on Saturday evening.
The protest group also shared footage of activists standing in the road with green smoke in the background. Some protesters could be seen waving Palestine flags.
Youth Demand said a group of young people who had been demonstrating at Waterloo station had moved over and “occupied Tower Bridge”.
The group added: “Israel has committed war crimes with its genocide in Gaza.
“The UK government must impose an immediate trade embargo with them. A ceasefire is not a free Palestine.”
🚨 YOUTH DEMAND BLOCK TOWER BRIDGE
— Youth Demand (@youth_demand) October 11, 2025
Young people have left Waterloo Station and occupied Tower Bridge.
Israel has committed war crimes with its genocide in Gaza. The UK government must impose an immediate trade embargo with them.
A ceasefire is not a free Palestine.
Sign up… pic.twitter.com/aPHVi9gVjx
Actress Denise Gough speaks about 'cruelty of Israel and Zionist entity' seen during visit to West Bank
Saturday 11 October 2025 18:12 , Jacob PhillipsActress Denise Gough also addressed tens of thousands of protesters on Saturday about the “cruelty of Israel and the Zionist entity” she witnessed during a recent visit to the West Bank.
From a stage outside Downing Street, she told the crowd how she spoke with a farmer “who now lives in a home under siege, surrounded by fences on land that belonged to his forefathers, now stolen”.
The Irish actress, known for her role in the series Andor, said: “I listened to him talk as his children poured coffee, the same children who mustn’t make too much noise or the settlers next door will come on to their balconies and point guns at them.”
Gough added: “I met a young woman who went to prison as a child for standing up to the soldier who shot her cousin in the head in front of her.”
She said she walked through a village that was “ethnically cleansed in 1948”, where the “remains are continually desecrated by settlers who now use the once-beautiful family homes as toilets – a now destroyed mosque serves as a party location for settlers who daub the walls with racist graffiti; all of this supported by the occupying army.”
Gough added: “The cruelty of Israel and the Zionist entity is something I will never, ever forget.
“The considered and meticulous ways in which it is meted out is breathtaking – the subjugation, humiliation and disrespect that the Palestinian people are expected to withstand are nothing we would ever accept for ourselves, and there is no doubt that the seeds of what has been done in Gaza are being planted in the West Bank as we speak, and have been for many, many years.”
Police make 14 arrests during protests
Saturday 11 October 2025 17:58 , Jacob PhillipsThe protest organised by the Palestine Coalition has now left Whitehall.
The Met Police has confirmed a small number of arrests were made over the course of the day.
The force said officers made 14 arrests, seven which were for breaching conditions under the Public Order Act.
Further arrests were also made for other offences including supporting a proscribed group and affray.
MP tells crowd about upcoming Bill calling for sanctions on Israel
Saturday 11 October 2025 17:48 , Jacob PhillipsThe MP for Leeds East has told a crowd of pro-Palestinian protesters about his upcoming Bill calling for sanctions on Israel.
Richard Burgon praised the “beautiful scenes of children dancing with joy” in Gaza as the ceasefire was announced, before telling the crowd outside Downing Street: “We need real peace. We need a total end to Israel’s war on the Palestinian people, an end to the entire occupation.”
He called for an end to Israeli occupation in the West Bank and for “war criminals to face justice”, adding: “In recent months the International Court of Justice and the United Nations have been clear: Israel’s entire occupation is illegal – they say every government, including our Government, has a legal duty to impose sanctions on Israel.
“So in my hand, I have my new Bill for sanctions on Israel” which will be published in the next few days, he said.
The MP added that it will call for “widespread sanctions before Israel’s occupation ends”, including economic sanctions on Israel, a ban on all trade with Israel’s illegal settlements, a full arms embargo on Israel, and for an end to the UK-Israel trade deal until the country “upholds international law”.
It will also include “individual sanctions on all those upholding the occupation, just as international law demands”, Mr Burgon said.
Massive Attack member hits out at Government during protest speech
Saturday 11 October 2025 17:27 , Jacob PhillipsA founding member of Massive Attack has criticised Government ministers for welcoming the ceasefire in Gaza “48 hours” after they were “arming and aiding the annihilation of the Palestinian people”.
Addressing pro-Palestine protesters on Whitehall, Robert Del Naja said: “This week, in these buildings all around us, Government ministers frantically applied the camouflage of political language, hoping to hide them from the accountability of people in time.
“Ministers who welcomed the ceasefire – and pledged to do all they can to enforce it – are the same ministers who, 48 hours earlier, were still arming and aiding the annihilation of the Palestinian people.”
These politicians were “the same people who made a global mockery of our terrorism laws by locking up non-violent activists and filling their own moral vacuum with pensioners, poets and students” who were holding “handwritten signs”, he said.
“In the years to come we will all owe it to the Palestinian people to hold those who have been complicit in genocide, war crimes and violent apartheid to account”, Del Naja said, before going on to express solidarity with rap trio Kneecap and other artists speaking out for Palestine.
Further pictures show scale of pro-Palestine protest
Saturday 11 October 2025 17:14 , Jacob Phillips
MP Zarah Sultana hits out at Home Secretary for switching sides on Palestine
Saturday 11 October 2025 16:33 , Jacob PhillipsYour Party co-founder Zarah Sultana has criticised the Home Secretary for switching sides on Palestine and “locking up pensioners and priests for opposing the ban on Palestine Action”, who she described as “heroes”.
The Independent MP for Coventry South said Shabana Mahmood “doesn’t want to just ban demonstrations, she wants to criminalise dissent – she wants to send a message that if you march for Palestine, if you speak out against genocide, if you demand justice, then the state considers you the problem. Shame on her.”
From a stage outside Downing Street, she told tens of thousands of protesters that in 2014 Ms Mahmood took part in two demonstrations for Gaza: Lying on the floor of a Sainsbury’s supermarket and weeks later addressing “a Palestine protest like this” with expressions of compassion.
Today “she is locking up pensioners and priests for opposing the ban on Palestine Action and calling them terrorists – they are heroes”, Ms Sultana said.
“The real terrorists are the war criminals that continue to drop bombs on Gaza and the politicians here in Britain who welcome them with open arms – shame on them”, she added.
Over 500,000 people take part in Pro-Palestine march
Saturday 11 October 2025 16:19 , Jacob PhillipsOver 500,000 people have taken part in the Pro-Palestine march in central London.
In a post on X the Palestine Solidarity Campaign has said that it will not stop marching “until Palestine is free”.
Today over 500,000 marched for Palestine in London. We’re not going to stop until Palestine is free. 🇵🇸 pic.twitter.com/P0Msvce5a5
— Palestine Solidarity Campaign (@PSCupdates) October 11, 2025
Waterloo Station occupied, Youth Demand says
Saturday 11 October 2025 15:50 , Jacob PhillipsProtest group Youth Demand has claimed that it has occupied Waterloo station.
The group has shared footage on X showing a ring of protesters with one activist with a megaphone standing in the centre of the busy station.
The Youth Demand post added: "We know that this so-called ceasefire deal is nothing but a business deal that will be breached again and again."
🚨 BREAKING: WATERLOO STATION OCCUPIED FOR PALESTINE
— Youth Demand (@youth_demand) October 11, 2025
🇵🇸 "We know that this so-called ceasefire deal is nothing but a business deal that will be breached again and again."
🔥 Join our national day of action: https://t.co/XOGdouqiOS pic.twitter.com/0WPMwac7NE
Latest pictures show protesters crossing Westminster Bridge
Saturday 11 October 2025 15:26 , Jacob Phillips
Recap: Thousands gather for pro-Palestine march to mark two years since Gaza war
Saturday 11 October 2025 15:13 , Jacob PhillipsTens of thousands of pro-Palestine protesters have gathered in central London to mark two years since the start of the war in Gaza, a day after the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas came into effect.
As the demonstration began along Victoria Embankment on Saturday, stalls were selling keffiyehs while people handed out placards that read “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”, “it’s not a crime to act against genocide” and “Starmer has blood on his hands, free Palestine”.
Participants are expected to march along Embankment before a rally in Whitehall.
A counter-protest by Stop The Hate was expected to take place at the junction of Aldwych and the Strand, with police putting measures in place to try to prevent a clash between the two groups.
In a post on X, police said a “small group” of counter-protesters had breached conditions by demonstrating at the form up area of the pro-Palestine march, leading to a “scuffle between several individuals from the two groups”.
A small group of counter protesters breached their conditions by demonstrating at the form up point of the Palestine Coalition protest.
— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) October 11, 2025
This led to a scuffle between several individuals from the two groups. Officers were quickly on the scene to separate those involved, making a…
Counter protesters sign 'F*** You' by Lily Allen
Saturday 11 October 2025 14:49 , Jacob PhillipsThe Stop The Hate counter-protest has been blaring Lily Allen’s song F*** You from the speakers, as a man sang from a microphone “f*** you” and said “bye, bye, bye see you never”.
The man went on to shout “the circus is in town once more ladies and gentleman, Saturday delight” before calling the crowd animals and adding “they are all Jew haters”.
A large flag at the front of the counter-protest crowd of more than a hundred people read “don’t attack the law. Hamas is terrorist”.
Woman holds 'no to genocide and no to anti-semitism' placard
Saturday 11 October 2025 14:32 , Michael Howie
Westminster Bridge thronged with protesters
Saturday 11 October 2025 14:27 , Michael HowieWestminster Bridge is absolutely packed with protesters as the demo snakes its way towards Whitehall.
Counter-protesters waving Israeli flags face 100,000 marchers
Saturday 11 October 2025 14:22 , Michael HowieA large stationary crowd of counter-protesters waving Israeli flags blared loud music as they faced more than a hundred thousand pro-Palestinian protesters passing from Waterloo Bridge onto the Strand.
A deafening loud speaker blared heavy rock metal music that included lyrics "you can stick your Palestine up your hole".
The song also said "with your twisted goals, we will bleed for your lies", referenced Islamic State, and said "(we are) sick of all your burning hate".
It ended with the line "you're not welcome anymore", before someone on the megaphone shouted "Shalom losers".
A blue Trump "make America great again" flag was flown at the front of the counter-protest, as well as several Union flags.
Police make arrests as counter-protesters breach conditions
Saturday 11 October 2025 14:10 , Michael HowieThe Metropolitan Police has made a number of arrests after a group of counter-protesters breached conditions by demonstrating at head of the Palestine Coalition demo.
In a message posted on X, the force said: “This led to a scuffle between several individuals from the two groups.
“Officers were quickly on the scene to separate those involved, making a small number of arrests.”
25 police officers escort handcuffed woman away
Saturday 11 October 2025 14:06 , Michael HowieMore than 25 police officers have escorted one handcuffed woman away from the pro-Palestine demonstration as she shouted "because I said coconut I have been arrested".
A mass of protesters crowded around the officers surrounding her near Waterloo Bridge and shouted "shame".
As police walked her away at around 1.45pm, the woman shouted: "This is Islamophobia, because I said coconut I have been arrested, for what is a legal word in English; the word coconut is not illegal, it has been proven in a court of law".
Jeremy Corbyn leads protesters across Westminster Bridge
Saturday 11 October 2025 13:43 , Michael HowieProtesters shouted "from the rivers to the sea, Palestine will be free" as they marched towards Westminster.
That’s a chant Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has suggested the Government may crack down on.
Your Party co-founder Jeremy Corbyn walked at the front of the crowd across Westminster Bridge, helping to carry a large banner that said "national march. Free Palestine".
He stayed silent as the woman on the megaphone led the "from the rivers to the sea" chant, and "Keir Starmer you can't hide, we charge you with genocide".
But he was seen chanting "Palestine will be free" after she shouted "Netanyahu you will see".
Marching for Palestine 🇵🇸 over Westminster Bridge #FreePalestine pic.twitter.com/cuVC9XLKyR
— Stop the War (@STWuk) October 11, 2025
Tens of thousands of pro-Palestine protesters start marching
Saturday 11 October 2025 13:15 , Michael HowieTens of thousands of pro-Palestine protesters have started marching through central London.
The cheering crowd was led by a woman in a mobility scooter carrying a sign that said "Palestine. Freedom peace", with a mannequin wearing a headdress in the back of the scooter.
Behind her walked a line of men and women in Palestine Solidarity Campaign high vis, holding hands.
One of them was wearing a white t-shirt and skirt covered in red paint that said "no more blood sacrifice. Free Palestine. Your tax helps pay to bomb innocent civilians in Gaza".
Police remove people carrying 'we stand with Britain's Jews' placards
Saturday 11 October 2025 12:57 , Michael HowiePolice have ushered away multiple people carrying placards that said "we stand with Britain's Jews", taking them out of the crowd of pro-Palestine protesters.
Shouts of "shame" and "free Palestine" came loudly from the pro-Palestine crowd gathered along Victoria Embankment, which now numbers in the tens of thousands, as they were led away shortly before 12.45pm.
Thousands gathered along Victoria Embankment
Saturday 11 October 2025 12:42 , Michael HowieMore pictures of the pro-Palestine demonstration are beginning to drop. One shows crowds of people filling Victoria Embankment as they prepare to march towards Big Ben.
March to start 'shortly' - police
Saturday 11 October 2025 12:32 , Michael HowieThe Met Police has posted what appears to be a CCTV image from the protest showing large crowds gathered along Victoria Embankment.
It says the march is expected to begin “shortly”.
The protest organised by the Palestine Coalition is forming up on Victoria Embankment. The group is expected to begin their march shortly. pic.twitter.com/KEXFnFZuGX
— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) October 11, 2025
'From the river to the sea' colouring books on sale
Saturday 11 October 2025 12:27 , Michael HowieThousands of pro-Palestine protesters are gathering along Victoria Embankment to the sound of drums, ahead of a demonstration to mark two years of the war in Gaza.
Stalls are selling keffiyehs and outside Embankment station people were handing out placards that said "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free", "it's not a crime to act against genocide" and "Starmer has blood on his hands, free Palestine".
At one stall, colouring books were on sale including ones titled “from the river to the sea” and “Malcolm X in Gaza”.
First pro-Palestinian protesters arrive in central London
Saturday 11 October 2025 12:02 , Anthony FranceThe first pro-Palestine protesters are arriving at Victoria Embankment, a day after the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas came into effect.
Hundreds of thousands are expected to gather for a march and speeches in central London on Saturday, as tens of thousands of Gazans returned to their homes following the withdrawal of Israeli forces.
One woman was seen holding a sign saying, “Another un-British granny on a hate march”, in reference to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s comment about pro-Palestine demonstrations on the second anniversary of Hamas’s murderous October 7 attack.
Meanwhile, Stop The Hate has organised a rival demo at the junction of Aldwych and the Strand, police said.
Gazans stream back home to rubble as Israel-Hamas ceasefire holds
Saturday 11 October 2025 11:13 , Anthony FranceThousands of Palestinians streamed north along the coast of Gaza on Saturday, trekking by foot, car and cart back to their abandoned homes as a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas enters its second day.
Israeli troops pulled back under the first phase of a US-brokered agreement reached this week to end the war, which has killed tens of thousands of people and left much of the enclave in ruins.
“It is an indescribable feeling; praise be to God,” said Nabila Basal as she travelled by foot with her daughter, who she said had suffered a head wound in the war.
“We are very, very happy that the war has stopped, and the suffering has ended.”
Hamas has until 12.00 local time (10.00 BST) on Monday to release all the Israeli hostages from Gaza.
Israel is set to free 1,700 detainees captured during the war and around 250 Palestinian prisoners serving long sentences.
Hundreds of trucks per day are expected to surge into Gaza carrying food and medical aid, according to the agreement.
Donald Trump is expected to visit the region on Monday and address the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, the first US President to do so since George W Bush in 2008.
Trump said he would also travel to Egypt and that other world leaders were expected to be present.
Rival protesters could come within yards of each
Saturday 11 October 2025 10:32 , Michael HowiePolice will be readying to keep rival demonstrators apart as a pro-Israel rally organised by the Stop The Hate campaign is set to take place just yards from part of the pro-Palestine march route.
The map below shows where the Stop The Hate protesters have been instructed to assemble under Met Police conditions aimed at maintaining public order.
Police impose conditions on rallies to prevent 'serious disruption'
Saturday 11 October 2025 10:21 , Michael HowieThe Metropolitan Police has imposed a number of conditions on demonstrations in a bid to prevent any trouble.
They set out specific areas protesters can gather as well as a march route.
Huge Gaza march taking place in London today
Saturday 11 October 2025 10:12 , Michael HowieA large pro-Palestine march and rally is set to be staged in central London this afternoon.
The demonstration has been organised by a coalition of groups including the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Stop the War, and will see protesters from around the country converge on Embankment before marching to Whitehall.
The demonstration is expected to start at midday.
Meanwhile, a nearby counter-protest has been organised by Stop The Hate.
