Henry Nicholls Agence France-Presse The procession of tens of thousands of British people demanded a lasting ceasefire in Gaza after seven weeks of war.
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.
< p>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 respected.
The procession set off from Park Lane in the middle of the day towards Whitehall, a central London district, with hundreds of Palestinian flags and signs reading “Stop bombing Gaza” and “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,” said Alaa Hassan, 24, who works in health.
“The occupation of Gaza must end, we want a real ceasefire, 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 on Israeli territory on October 7, which left 1,200 dead, mainly civilians massacred by the commandos of the Palestinian Islamist movement.
In the Gaza Strip, the Hamas government claims that more than 14,800 people, including 6,150 children, were killed by Israeli response strikes.
Graham Foord, 56, was moved by the way the London marches, mostly peaceful, were “portrayed in the media” and by the British government, notably by former Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who described them as 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 wearing a sign with Nazi symbols was stopped at the very start of the demonstration, Interior Minister James Cleverly said on X (ex-Twitter).
A march against anti-Semitism will also take place on Sunday in the British capital, at the initiative of the Campaign Against Antisemitism organization around 1:30 p.m. local time.