MORE than 80,000 workers, students and youth marched through central London from Russell Square to Parliament Square on Saturday, chanting: ‘From the River to the Sea Palestine will be Free.’
The London march was one of more than 100 marches in towns and cities throughout the UK in support of Palestine.
There were thousands of Palestinian flags and placards on the march, along with trade union and other banners.
Most noise was made by the scores of health workers, in scrubs and some holding stethoscopes, who were backed by a dozen drummers as they kept up constant chants of: ‘Stop the bombings, stop the war, stop arming Israel – healthcare workers say no more! We are the people! We won’t be silent! Stop the bombing now, now, now!’ and ‘Up, up, up with liberation – down, down, down with occupation!’
There was a loud and lively delegation behind the Workers Revolutionary Party and Young Socialists banner which demanded ‘Charge Israel with War Crimes!’
As the march was assembling in Russell Square several demonstrators spoke to News Line.
Enrique Espana, a psychotherapist said: ‘I’ve come to most of the marches and I think they are very powerful. I’ve got no words for the situation in Gaza, it’s devastating, heartbreaking.
‘The capitalist powers that are behind the Israeli government are determined to continue to back Israel. People need to open their eyes and understand that the suffering must end, we must have a Palestinian state now it’s not negotiable.’
Tom Chitty, National Education Union member from West Sussex said: ‘David Cameron is worried that he will end up in The Hague which has a legal duty to act if it suspects that a genocide is happening. The International Court of Justice has declared that it is plausible genocide. Stop arming Israel, call an immediate ceasefire.’
Mohammed Ahmed, a cab driver from Tower Hamlets in East London, said: ‘Stop selling arms to Israel. So many innocent people are being killed, most of them children. We should take strike action. Sunak and Starmer both support Israel. We should kick them both out.’
Affra Issa, a freelance journalist, said: ‘Israel targets journalists in an attempt to cover up its war crimes. Everyone who is supporting Israel with weapons is supporting targeting journalists.
‘Israel doesn’t actually manufacture the weapons so it’s the US, UK, Germany and most of the EU who have been supplying the weapons. Everyone who sells arms is culpable. On one hand they say there has to be a humanitarian aid, on the other hand they send arms to Israel.
‘All the hospitals in Gaza are now non-functional and all that one or two of them can do now is clean the wounds.
‘Egypt needs to open their border without any costs or delays. Jordan must do the same. Israel must be stopped.’
The march set off with loud chanting all the way along the route, led by the large banners of Friends of Al-Aqsa, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the Palestinian Forum in Britain.
En route to Parliament Square marchers cheered and applauded as they passed a group of holocaust survivors who were with their placards supporting Palestine and denouncing genocide.
Members of the Jewish Socialist Group, Jewish Voice for Labour and Jews for Palestine were there with their banners and placards and they also clapped the march as it passed.
• See feature, Photo Gallery & editorial
