Young and old, of all faiths (and none) marched in solidarity in this thirteen massive demonstration in London since November 2023 calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
.The march began in Parliament Square and concluded in Hyde Park – the mood was well captured by the chant – We are the people, we will not be silenced,
Many of the speakers spoke in solidarity with the campus protests now spreading across the US and other countries. There were references to the recent discovery of mass graves at Gaza’s destroyed hospitals.
Husam Zumlot, Ambassador of the State of Palestine declared, “the wheels of justice are turning . . . . change will come, campus by campus, city by city . ….This is our time to stand up for a better tomorrow for Palestine.”. In his moving speech Stephen Kapos recalled his own childhood experiences in Budapest and declared, “we are against the use of the memory of the Holocaust . .. . it is not antisemitic to oppose Zionism.”
Ismail Patel, founder and chair of Friends of Al-Aqsa – a co-organiser of today’s march – declared that Israel had lost all moral capital and in view of Government’s continued support for Israel’s genocide, “we must learn from the USA – the time has come for a peaceful civil disobedience movement” . He called on the Government to reinstate funding of UNRWA. and for charitable status to be removed from British-registered charities that fund settler violence . He added, “. . . . we are all Palestinians because we refuse to go away . . .we are all Palestinians because we are born into a revolution to fight oppression, racism, colonialism . . . in our thousands and our millions, we are all Palestinians. ” There was a massive chorus of response from the hundreds of thousands assembled on an overcast London afternoon. .
