Thousands of people have gathered in central London to call for “lasting peace” in Gaza, a day after the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas came into effect.
The demonstration, organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, began at Victoria Embankment and headed to Whitehall. Stalls sold keffiyehs and 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”.
Ben Jamal, the director of the campaign group, said the march went ahead, despite a ceasefire coming into effect, because the “plan that has been laid out by Donald Trump is not a plan for enduring peace”.
He said the plan said “nothing about the root causes of violence” nor anything “about the system of apartheid” in Palestine or the “right to self-determination” for Palestinians. He added that the group’s campaigning and protesting would not end “until the Palestinian people are finally free”.
This is the 32nd national demonstration in support of Palestine since October 2023, according to PSC.
A counter-protest by the Jewish-led Stop the Hate group was expected to take place at the junction of Aldwych and the Strand, with police putting measures in place to try to prevent any clashes between the two groups.
Scotland Yard said it had imposed conditions on both demonstrations under the Public Order Act to “prevent serious disruption” and had set out specific areas where protesters could gather, as well as a march route.
Last weekend, the government announced that police would be given greater powers to restrict protests by allowing them to consider the “cumulative impact” of repeated demonstrations.
The home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, called for pro-Palestine protests scheduled to take place last weekend to be cancelled or postponed after a terrorist attack on a synagogue in Manchester in which two people were killed.
On Wednesday, while on a trade mission in India, Keir Starmer said protest laws, including chants, were being reviewed by the government.
“I’ve asked the home secretary to look more broadly at what other powers are available, how they’re being used, and whether they should be changed in any way,” he told reporters. “I think we need to go further than that in relation to some of the chants that are going on at some of these protests.”
It is just over two years since the Hamas attack on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza. Jamal said: “For two years we have seen Israel commit a no-holds-barred genocide with the political and military support of successive UK governments.
“In response, a community of resistance in this country has responded with an historic show of solidarity – actively and intensively campaigning, day in day out, to demand politicians, public bodies and corporations end their complicity with Israel’s crimes.
“This is a movement supported by millions of people in this country and around the world who want freedom and justice for Palestine.”
As the march takes place, displaced Palestinians have started their journeys back to the ruins of their homes in Gaza.
