ABOUT 300,000 people marched through the British capital on Saturday, as pro-Palestinian supporters made a new call for a Gaza war ceasefire.
Authorities had feared trouble as the “National March for Palestine” was scheduled for Armistice Day, Britain’s annual commemoration of its war dead. Dozens of arrests were reported.
The march set off after a two-minute silence was observed at The Cenotaph war memorial in central London.
A police spokesman said about 300,000 were estimated to be taking part.
Protesters waved black, red, white and green Palestinian flags and held aloft placards proclaiming “Stop Bombing Gaza”.
There have been nearly weekly rallies in London since the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, in which at least 1,200 people were killed and 239 people taken hostage, according to Israel.
The Israeli air and ground military campaign in response has left over 11,000 people in Gaza dead, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
Shouts of “free Palestine”, “ceasefire now” and “Israel is a terror state” rang out from the London protest.
“Forget the political stance, forget everything else, you can’t stand around while people are getting killed,” Shiraz Bobra, 41, who travelled from Leicester, central England, told AFP. He added that he would come every week until a ceasefire was enforced.
Gavin Searle, a 58-year-old television director from Hastings in south England, said he had come “to show solidarity with the Palestinians when there’s a massive injustice taking place.”
Roman Catholic priest Father John McGowan added: “I feel for the Palestinians because their land is occupied and their occupiers can be cruel” and said he hoped for a two-state solution.
