300,000 Voices Of Solidarity: London’s Record-Breaking Protest For Palestine Takes Center Stage Again
From South Africa to Boston, across the globe, masses of people have been coming together to take a stand for Palestine in organized protests. Following in tow, the UK decided to make an even louder impact by staging one of its biggest Pro-Palestine protests thus far. On November 11, about 300,000 people gathered together at London’s Hyde Park to begin the massive march in demand of a ceasefire.
This march was weeks in the making and involved the collective effort of several prominent organizers including the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), the Muslim Association of Britain, Friends of Al-Aqsa, Palestinian Forum in Britain, Stop the War and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. “We think it is going to be huge,” Ben Jamal, the director of the PSC said.
That it was. Overhead footage of protestors showed masses and masses of people snaking through their planned route that ended at the US embassy. The Vauxhall bridge alone was completely packed to the point where from an aerial standpoint, the structures of the bridge were barely visible. With such a massive protest, several scuffles broke out between counter-protestors and the police in some parts of London including Pimlico and Chinatown. Beyond that 126 people were arrested throughout the day.
With protestors fully on edge, many surrounded the British politician, Michael Gove who was seen during the protests. Just recently, Gove openly expressed his support of Israel during a rally held in central London so when protestors eyed him, they immediately surrounded the politician. He ended up having to be taken away in a police van. While not present at the protest, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak shared Gove’s disdain for the cause, condemning the entire rally, saying that “violence” utterly disrespects the armed forces.
The massive protest is an indication that people are not planning to hold back anytime soon and that the ongoing global solidarity is only growing bigger.
