LONDON: Thousands of people demonstrated Saturday in central London for a pro-Palestinian protest following police warnings that anyone showing support for Hamas could face arrest.
Protesters started a march through the British capital ahead of an afternoon rally near parliament and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Downing Street office and residence.
Some demonstrators displayed Palestinian flags and placards — bearing slogans including “end the massacre”, “freedom for Palestine,” and “sanctions for Israel”.
The head of the Palestinian mission in the UK Husam Zomlot told the rally that the war in Gaza is indescribable and the official casualty count is already in the thousands, but expected the real casualty tally will be much higher.
He told supporters that Israel is indiscriminately bombing civilian infrastructure, hospitals, homes, schools, and entire neighborhoods.
He added that more than 70 people were massacred yesterday as they were trying to leave the bombardment. This is a war crime.
Israel’s cruelty in Palestine
Zomlot said that Israel has cut food, water, fuel, and electricity supplies to every resident in Gaza, which has a population of more than two million, and is leaving 1.1 million Palestinian children in the small enclave without , water, food, medicine, power, shelter, and nowhere to go.
Jeremy Corbyn, former Labour leader, said that millions of people around the world were demonstrating yesterday, today, tomorrow, and we will carry on protesting as long as it takes to bring about peace, to bring about recognition of the rights of Palestinians that have been denied for so long.
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The rally comes as Israel intensifies its war to destroy Hamas’ capability, continously pounding the Gaza Strip and deploying tens of thousands of soldiers nearby ahead of an expected ground offensive in the enclave.
Ahead of the London protest, the city’s Metropolitan Police Service announced that it would deploy over 1,000 officers, as the events thousands of miles away reverberate in UK and elsewhere.
