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By Aysu Bicer
LONDON (AA) - Another massive pro-Palestine demonstration took place in London with tens of thousands of protesters demanding a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war.
The march commenced at midday from Bank Junction and aims to culminate at Parliament Square.
Organizers are the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Friends of Al-Aqsa, Stop the War Coalition, Muslim Association of Britain, Palestinian Forum in Britain and Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
An exclusion zone has been established to restrict protesters from assembling around the Israeli Embassy.
Prior to the march, Metropolitan Police issued a cautionary statement. "Conditions in place under Sec 12 of the Public Order Act require protesters to stick to the agreed route as shown in the map below.
"Further conditions are in place that mean speeches must end by 4 p.m. and the assembly at the end of the protest must end by 5 p.m. We will keep the need for further powers and conditions under review,” it said.
The mobilization follows a recent decision by the UK to abstain from a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution that called for an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza.
The resolution faced a veto from the US, further intensifying the discourse surrounding the ongoing conflict.
Former UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who faced criticism for referring to pro-Palestinian rallies in the UK as "Hate marches" and was dismissed from her position last month, expressed dissatisfaction with the UK's decision to abstain in the UNSC vote.
"As marches take place yet again where we’ll see anti-semitism & hatred in London, it is sad to see democracies vote at the UN for a naive & hypocritical ceasefire motion. Thank you USA for supporting Israel’s right to defend herself. The UK’s abstention was very disappointing," she wrote on X.
Campaigners have criticized British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for his perceived failure to advocate for a cease-fire, despite the growing death toll.
Protesters chanted anti-Israel slogans and carried Palestinian flags and signs, some of which read: "Occupation no more," "Shame on you Rishi Sunak,” "From river to sea Palestine will be free," "Freedom for Palestine," "End Genocide" and "Ceasefire now."
- ' We will never go away'
Jeremy Corbyn, the former leader of the Labour Party, addressing the audience at a rally, described the failure of the UNSC to pass a cease-fire resolution as "shameful."
Emphasizing that life in Gaza has become unsustainable, Corbyn said Gazans have been displaced since the establishment of Israel and are now being pushed into the Sinai Desert.
He said Western countries, by supplying weapons to Israel and not calling for a cease-fire, are complicit in the massacre.
"Week after week, the streets remain full of people demanding an end to the massacre in Gaza. We will never go away so long as the Palestinian people live under occupation. Cease-fire now!" he said.
Lindsey German, president of the Stop the War Coalition, also criticized the US and the UK, and said the group will not support politicians in elections unless they call for a cease-fire.
She noted that all resolution proposals brought to the UNSC to end the apartheid regime in South Africa were vetoed by the UK, with support from the US.
German emphasized that the same injustice is happening in the apartheid regime and the current genocide against Palestinians.
- 'Viability of two-state solution rapidly decreasing'
"The problem is that the Israelis have talked about the state solution for decades, but they continue stealing Palestinian land and evicting Palestinians from their homes," one protestor told Anadolu.
"The viability of the two-state solution is rapidly decreasing, and Israelis know that and the more honest Israelis will say they don't want a two-state solution," he added.
Another said solidarity with Palestine should not be considered as "an attack" on any particular group, "but a call for a fair resolution that enables peace for all people in the region."
"We reject the perpetuation of stereotypes and misinformation that undermine the Palestinian struggle for justice, and we stand here to amplify their voices in the face of adversity," she added.