TUESDAY’S demonstration saw more than 10,000 students march through central London on the 2nd anniversary of the Al-Aqsa Flood operation which broke the siege of Gaza on 7th October 2023.
They defied the Starmer government which had warned them that they must not march in solidarity with the workers and youth of Palestine.
Thousands more workers and youth marched and rallied at universities all over the country in support of Gaza and against the Israeli genocide.
They not only defied police threats to stop them marching, they defied the Labour government and PM Starmer as both reinforced their open support for Israel’s genocide, warning workers not to march and implying that the growing police state would not allow it.
On the morning of the march, speaking to the Times newspaper, Starmer denounced students who marched for Palestine, declaring in advance of the event that those who took part were being ‘un-British’.
Defiant student marchers assembled outside King’s College in the Strand where they began their chants of ‘1234, Occupation no more! 5678, Israel is a terror state!’
The president of the London School of Economics (LSE) Campaign for Palestine addressed the crowd, saying: ‘This didn’t start on October 7th 2023. There have been 77 years of apartheid and ethnic cleansing.
‘When a mother is killed, when a baby is killed, when babies can’t feed from their mothers, how can we be complicit?
‘When Gaza burns to the ground, our hearts should burn. There have been 65,000 people exterminated in Gaza in the last two years alone.’
The students marched to the LSE, where there were calls for LSE to stop working with companies that support Israel and where they were joined by students from LSE, SOAS, Goldsmiths and other universities.
A student in film studies, Ciaran, told News Line: ‘I think there should be a free Palestine. What the Israeli government is doing is really horrible. They are committing a genocide. Our government is complicit and actively funding the Israeli military.’
Ida, another student, added: ‘Palestine is a victim of British imperialism. It still provides arms for Israel. You can’t claim lands that you have settled. Imperialism should not control our state and our minds.’
At the University of Glasgow, the student group declared: ‘Whilst we commemorate two years of genocide we celebrate the glorious Al-Aqsa Flood.’
Asked about Starmer claiming it was ‘un-British’ to protest for Gaza on 7th October, Anton Parocki said: ‘It’s just disgraceful. What I think is insensitive is that there has been two years of genocide. Conflating the actions of Benjamin Netanyahu with Judaism is actually antisemitic.’
Amid the ruins of homes in Shuja’iyya and the tents of displacement in Mawasi Khan Younis, a single voice echoes: a resounding rejection of the latest US-Israeli plan.
The residents, who have paid a heavy price in blood and homes, see in this plan an attempt to whitewash the blockade and prolong the genocide, not to end the occupation.
The plan presented by US President Donald Trump, with the backing of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, consists of 20 points.
The most prominent include: a ceasefire, the return of Israeli hostages, the disarmament of Hamas, and the establishment of an international administration for Gaza through a ‘Peace Council’ composed of foreign figures, followed by a gradual Israeli withdrawal under strict security guarantees.
But for Gazans, these provisions appear to be a new form of colonisation that ignores their most important demand: freedom and sovereignty.
Gazans remain resolute that they will establish their state of Palestine at whatever the cost.
Umm Sami Al-Haddad, said: ‘My sons were martyred, and my home is gone.’ Holding a faded photo of him, she says: ‘My house was a refuge for my extended family. We used to gather there every Friday, and my son Sami dreamed of finishing his studies in engineering.
‘Today nothing remains, no home, no son. And now they come and tell us: surrender your weapons and accept an international council to rule you?
‘We are not for sale.’
