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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
John Dunne

Pro-Palestine protests go local this weekend with no mass London gathering

More than 100 pro-Palestine protests demanding a ceasefire in Gaza are due to take place across the UK this weekend to replace the single large scale marches which have been staged in London.

There will still be a number of 'local' London marches in areas including Camden, Hackney and Camberwell and Acton.

The Camden protest will include a rally outside the office of Labour leader Keir Starmer who has angered campaigners over his failure to call for a ceasefire in Gaza despite the mounting death toll.

He faced a rebellion from some of his own MPs who voted for a ceasefire this week.

Tens of thousands of people are expected to attend vigils, protests, petitions, fundraisers and marches across cities including Birmingham, Cambridge, Liverpool.

Meanwhile commuter towns including Luton and Slough are also among the areas where protesters will hit the streets as well as Exeter in the west and Hastings on the south coast.

Ben Jamal, the director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), a lead organiser of the march said: “This Saturday, ordinary people across the UK will come out again to show the vast majority of them support a ceasefire.

"They will show their solidarity with Palestinians who are suffering unimaginable harm."

The protest movement sprung up after Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October killing about 1,200 people and taking more than 200 hostages.

In air strikes and a ground attack in retaliation Israel has killed more than 11,000 civilians in Gaza, two-thirds of them women and children, according to Hamas-run health authorities. An estimated 1.5 million people have been displaced.

The latest action comes a week after hundreds of thousands of people marched through central London despite calls for a ban. Eighteen police officers were injured after trouble flared in incidents involving far right protesters and the pro-Palestine supporters.

Former home secretary Suella Braverman had insisted the march should have been stopped because it clashed with Armistice Day events.

Mr Jamal added Jamal. “We demand justice for the Palestinian people – their right to self-determination and to live in freedom, safety, and with full human rights."

The national march, organised by PSC alongside Stop the War, the Muslim Association of Britain, Friends of Al-Aqsa and others, will resume in London on 25 November, with organisers saying they will continue until there is a ceasefire.

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