Hundreds of protesters in London have staged a sit-in on Westminster Bridge, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza in the first big demonstration of the year.
Elsewhere on Saturday, there were protests in Belfast and Dublin.
The London protesters blocked off the bridge and the surrounding roads after a march from St James’s Park in the centre of the city.
The demonstration, organised by the Free Palestine Coalition, renewed calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. It also called for the UK to stop arms sales to Israel and an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
The group announced a meeting location – a drinking fountain in St James’s Park – at 10am on Saturday and protesters began to gather around midday.
The Metropolitan police made several arrests at the park, before protesters marched through Westminster and were then stopped by officers in Parliament Square, next to Big Ben.
Hundreds of the protesters joined a sit-in on the bridge, with some staging a die-in, laying down and refusing to leave. Protesters chanted: “One, two, three, four, occupation no more,” while clapping and shouting “free Palestine” and holding up flags and placards demanding the British government support Palestine.
Some protesters wore face masks of British politicians, including Rishi Sunak, and of the US president, Joe Biden, and held up hands covered in red paint.
The Met police said on Saturday afternoon: “All protesters have now left the area around Westminster Bridge. Officers remain on-duty in central London and are ready to respond to any further demonstrations.”
Thousands of people in Belfast marched at a rally outside Belfast city hall, also calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
People carried placards criticising the Israeli regime and gathered outside the gates of the building to hear a series of speeches, interspersed with chants and songs voicing support for the Palestinian people.
Outside RTÉ’s headquarters in Dublin, 108 pairs of shoes were laid out, each pair representing a journalist killed since the conflict began in October, activists said.
Speaking outside Belfast City Hall, the northern secretary of the INTO teaching union, Mark McTaggart, who is also a spokesperson for the Trade Union Friends of Palestine group, reflected on the numbers of students and teachers who have been killed in Gaza and the West Bank.
“We look at what happened in our country during the time when there was unrest – education was the last bastion of hope for most people, it was the schools and the schoolteachers from across the north who kept children safe and schools were seen as places of safety. Those chances and those life chances are being taken away from young people across Palestine,” he said. McTaggart also encouraged people to boycott Israeli goods and companies.
Hundreds of people attended a demonstration organised by the Cork Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Similar demonstrations have taken place in the city every weekend since the conflict erupted.
Naomi Sheehan, a sustainable development scientist who attended the protest outside RTÉ’s headquarters in Dublin organised by the group Mothers Against Genocide, said Ireland’s national broadcaster should be referring to Israel’s actions in Gaza as “genocide”.
“It’s hard to even speak about this because it is so emotional, this is like witnessing the worst human rights atrocities of our times,” she said. “It’s a silent genocide and we are hearing a deafening silence in terms of assigning appropriate accountability to the forces who are enabling this genocide.”
Ireland has also witnessed pro-Israeli demonstrations in a number of cities since the conflict began in October. Saturday’s pro-Palestinian protests were staged after Ireland’s foreign minister, Micheál Martin, warned that a widening of the conflict in the Middle East would have devastating consequences for the world.
His comments came as Hezbollah in Lebanon claimed it fired dozens of rockets at Israeli observations posts after it blamed Israel for a strike on Beirut that killed a senior Hamas official during the week.
Martin rejected comments by Israeli government ministers calling for the resettlement of Palestinians outside Gaza, saying they were “utterly unacceptable and inflammatory”.
“Gaza is Palestinian land and is an integral part of a future state of Palestine,” he added.
Martin also further expressed concern about the situation in the Red Sea where commercial ships have been attacked by Houthi rebels from Yemen. Attacks are not only putting the lives of the crews in danger, he said, but are also having an “increasingly serious impact on global trade”.
The tánaiste said the need for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza was “more urgent than ever” and stressed the urgency of the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages held in Gaza and “full, safe and unhindered humanitarian access” to the enclave.
“Events across the region in recent days are also a stark reminder of the potential for further escalation,” said Martin.
“A widening of this conflict would have devastating consequences for the region and for the world. The international community simply cannot allow further civilian suffering and deaths. I urge all parties in the region to exercise restraint and avoid escalation.
“As always, it is the poorest and most vulnerable communities – in the Middle East, Africa and globally – that are the most severely affected.”
