Tens of thousands of Britons took to the streets again on Saturday in London in support of the Palestinians, demanding a lasting ceasefire in Gaza on the second day of the truce between Hamas and Israel.
The mobilization is not running out of steam in the British capital after seven weeks of war, while new releases of Hamas hostages and Palestinian prisoners are expected on Saturday, and the four-day renewable truce seemed until then to be respected.
The procession set off from Park Lane in the middle of the day towards Whitehall, a central district of London, with hundreds of Palestinian flags and signs saying “Stop bombing Gaza” or “End the siege.” »
“As an Arab, a Muslim and a human, I am here to defend the Palestinians and their right to live, to breathe, to be free,” insisted Alaa Hassan, 24, who works in health.
“The occupation of Gaza must end, we want a real ceasefire, and not just a four-day truce,” she told AFP.
The Israeli army estimates that around 240 people were kidnapped by Hamas during the bloody attack carried out in Israeli territory on October 7, which left 1,200 dead, mainly civilians massacred by commandos of the Palestinian Islamist movement.
In the Gaza Strip, the Hamas government says more than 14,800 people, including 6,150 children, have been killed by Israeli response strikes.
Graham Foord, 56, was moved by the way in which the London marches, mainly peaceful, were “depicted in the media” and by the British government, in particular by the former Minister of the Interior Suella Braverman, who called them a “hate march.”
Known for her provocative remarks, the latter was sacked from the Home Office in mid-November for having criticized the action of the police during these massive marches every week in the capital.
More than 1,500 police officers are mobilized throughout the weekend in London, with almost 500 reinforcements from other cities in the United Kingdom.
A man carrying a sign with Nazi symbols was arrested at the very start of the demonstration, Interior Minister James Cleverly said on X (formerly Twitter).
A march against anti-Semitism will also take place on Sunday in the British capital, at the initiative of the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism organization around 1:30 p.m. local time.