Huge attendance at marsh will add to pressure on Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer to back calls for ceasefire in Middle East conflict
Hundreds of thousands of people marched peacefully through central London yesterday to protest against Israel’s continued bombardment of Gaza, following a week of intense political debate over the policing of sensitive demonstrations.
The Metropolitan Police said around 300,000 people had converged on the capital from all parts of the country, while organisers of the pro-Palestinian event put the number closer to 800,000 and claimed it was one of the biggest marches in British history.
The attendance will add to political pressure on both the prime minister Rishi Sunak and the Labour leader Keir Starmer to back calls for a ceasefire in the conflict, which began after a Hamas terrorist attack in Israel on 7 October, murdering 1,200 Israelis and taking around 240 hostages.
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said on Friday that Israel’s relentless retaliatory bombardment had killed 11,078 people in the territory, while 1.5 million had fled their homes.
The march took place amid heightened tension between the Met police and Suella Braverman, the home secretary, who last week accused the force of showing bias when it came to demonstrations and of favouring left-wing causes and what she called pro-Palestinian “mobs”.
On Saturday morning, far-right counter-protesters had clashed with police near the Cenotaph in Whitehall, ahead of an Armistice Day service. Scuffles broke out as police attempted to stop a crowd of far-right activists, Islamophobes and football supporters carrying St George’s flags marching along the Embankment towards Whitehall shortly after 10am.
The group, which had been chanting “England til I die” pushed through the police barrier, with some shouting “let’s have them” as officers hit out with batons. Further clashes took place in Chinatown with counter-protesters chanting: “You’re not English any more” towards officers. The Met said officers had “faced aggression from counter-protesters who are in the area in significant numbers”.
Tommy Robinson, founder and former leader of the far-right English Defence League, was seen among the crowds protesters.
There were further clashes into the evening, including a crowd of roughly 150 rightwing protesters in Parliament Square.
