At the time of writing, a four-day truce is taking place in Gaza. With Israeli leaders stating their full intention to intensify their attacks immediately thereafter, anti-war protests have continued, including a national march of 200,000 in London on 25 November.
Within days of Hamas’s 7 October attack, as Israel’s immediate retaliatory bombardment began the destruction of Gaza, local vigils for the people of Gaza were held across the UK.
On 14 October, tens of thousands of people in the first London march were joined by thousands more in cities nationwide. The sense of shock was clear, with hundreds of Gazans already killed; a blockade of water, food, fuel and medicine; words of annihilation from Israel’s government and military; and our own political leaders offering absolute support for Israeli to ‘defend herself’.
In that first London march, placards proclaimed that: ‘Ethnic cleansing is not self-defence’.
The protests increasingly focussed on the genocidal nature of Israel’s response; many British academics signed an international open letter warning of genocide.
A national mobilisation for Wales took place in Cardiff on 21 October.
Everywhere, protest not only challenged the political stance of the two main parties, but now were in direct defiance of ministerial threats to criminalise the waving of the Palestinian flag, even to ban the marches themselves.
On 11 November, 800,000 people joined a national march in London, reported worldwide. A 1,000-strong Jewish bloc walked in unity with the people of Palestine; the health workers’ bloc expressed their message of solidarity to their beleaguered fellow medics in Gaza.
The National Day of Action on 18 November saw events all over the UK. In Newcastle-upon- Tyne, thousands of people participated in the ‘Cross the Tyne’ march, while in Glasgow, 20,000 people heard the declaration of trade unionist support for a ceasefire.
Protest has taken many forms: countless petitions; teach-ins; the rally held by more than 100 people in Kent outside Instro Precision Ltd, part of Elbit Systems which manufactures Israeli military apparatus; the eight-hour vigil in Hastings naming thousands of children killed so far; the thousands of pupils walking out of school in various cities.
1,100 people attended a vigil in York Minster and heard religious leaders from the Muslim, Jewish and Christian communities speak for peace.