- The rally on Saturday afternoon was the biggest Pro-Palestinian demonstration in the UK since Israel’s attack on Gaza began.
- Far-right groups mobilised in counter protest and attacked police officers.
This Saturday afternoon, approximately 300,000 Londoners took the streets to voice their support for the 2 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip who have been subject to a military invasion and bombing campaign at the hands of the Israeli Defence Force. It is estimated that over 11,000 Palestinians have been killed of whom over 4,500 are children.
The 300,000 figure is an estimate from the Metropolitan police, yet organisers from the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign (PSC) present at the event estimated that attendance at the protest exceeded 800,000 people.
Protestors marched from London’s Hyde Park to the United States Embassy in Vauxhall. They demanded an urgent ceasefire and voiced support for more humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza.
Protestors also expressed immense disappointment at both Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and opposition leader Keir Starmer for failing to back calls for a ceasefire in the region.
Far right groups such as the English Defence League (EDL) were also present with former EDL leader Tommy Robinson being spotted among crowds of protestors. Far right counter protestors threw glass bottles at Met police officers and engaged in violent brawls with law enforcement near the Cenotaph war memorial in Whitehall.
In addition to this it has been reported that right wing groups chanted xenophobic slogans and told the Met police that they “weren’t English anymore”. Over 100 counter protestors were arrested for their role in violence.
The presence of far-right supporters at the Pro-Palestinian march is underlined by the comments published in The Times by Home Secretary Suella Braverman. In her piece for the newspaper, she accused the police of showing Pro-Palestinian bias in their response to handling protestors.
The Met police have strongly denied any such assertions and in fact their decision to allow the march to continue today is evidence for the largely peaceful nature of Pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
