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palestine solidarity campaign
Thousands March in London to Demand End of Fossil Fuels and Gaza Genocide
"We won't stop until political leaders divest from war and destruction—and invest in a just, ecological, and equitable transition," said one campaigner.
Nov 16, 2024
Thousands of climate justice advocates took to the streets of London on Saturday to demand the U.K. government "end its reliance on fossil fuels, commit to paying climate reparations, and end its complicity in the genocide in Gaza."
Organizers said more than 60 groups—including Extinction Rebellion, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, Amnesty International U.K., Palestine Solidarity Campaign, War on Want, and Just Stop Oil—took part in the March for Global Climate Justice. The demonstration took place amid yet another shambolic United Nations Climate Change Conference and as Israeli forces continue a war on Gaza that U.N. experts this week called "consistent with the characteristics of genocide."
More than two dozen associated protests were held in cities and towns across Britain and Ireland, including Dublin, Edinburgh, Manchester, and Sheffield. Over 150 actions around the world are planned for what organizers are calling a Global Day of Action for Climate Justice on Saturday.
"Thousands of us united today in a historic mobilization on the streets of London, across Great Britain, and worldwide to demand an end to the era of fossil fuels and an end to the genocide in Gaza," Climate Justice Coalition national coordinator Angus O'Brien said in a statement.
"The issues we face are global, and so is our response," O'Brien added. "We won't stop until political leaders divest from war and destruction—and invest in a just, ecological, and equitable transition."
Lauren MacDonald, the lead campaigner at Stop Rosebank, said: "Every day we are witnessing the worsening effects of climate change as they creep closer and closer to home. All this while governments insist on pandering to the demands of mega-polluters in an endless cycle of ignorance that endangers us all."
"Oil money has been linked to violence throughout history—and this is no different now," MacDonald continued. "Even the Rosebank oil field here in the U.K. will see £253 million in revenue flow towards a company that has been flagged by the U.N. for human rights violations in Palestine."
Earlier this week, green groups including Oil Change International, Friends of the Earth Palestine/PENGON, and Tipping Point U.K. highlighted how fossil fuel companies including Britain's BP "enable and profit from Israel's genocide in Gaza" and perpetuate "a long history of the industry's complicity in mass atrocities worldwide."
Joanna Warrington, a campaigner at Fossil Free London—a group known for its bold direct action protests—said Saturday that "in gleaming London offices, fossil fuel giants like BP line their pockets while our planet burns and millions suffer."
"Every day, they stop at nothing to maximize their profits, fueling genocide, corrupting politics, and pushing our climate closer to collapse," she continued. "We are marching today to demand that the U.K. government breaks free from the grip of mega polluters, stands up to their relentless greed, and stops enabling the violence and destruction they profit from."
"Another world is not just possible—it's essential," Warrington added, "and it starts with holding fossil fuel corporations accountable."
MacDonald asserted that "if we want to maintain a liveable climate, and sever the toxic links between fossil fuels and atrocities across the globe, we must do everything we can to make a rapid and fair transition away from oil and gas."
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Over Half a Million Marchers Expected in London Nov. 11 to Demand Gaza Cease-Fire
"We want to send a clear message from the march that we represent the majority of the population in our calls for a cease-fire and that the movement in support of the Palestinians is growing in strength."
Nov 10, 2023
Organizers are expecting hundreds of thousands of people from across the United Kingdom to join an "inspiring, peaceful, and united show of solidarity" with Palestinians enduring the Israeli war on Gaza by marching from London's Hyde Park to the U.S. Embassy on Saturday.
"More than 500,000 people are expected to converge in London, making it one of the largest political marches in British history," the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), one of the organizers, said in a Friday statement reported by The Guardian.
Stop the War Coalition (STWC) convenor Lindsey German said Thursday that "our local groups in towns and cities across the U.K., along with coach companies, are telling us that every one of their coaches have been booked to bring people to London. This is comparable only to the 2 million strong protest against the Iraq War in 2003."
The other organizations behind the National March for Palestine on November 11—which is Armistice Day—are the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Friends of Al-Aqsa, Muslim Association of Britain, and Palestinian Forum in Britain.
"We want to send a clear message from the march that we represent the majority of the population in our calls for a cease-fire and that the movement in support of the Palestinians is growing in strength," says STWC's event webpage.
The Israel Defense Forces' (IDF) air and ground assault of Gaza—launched last month in response to a Hamas-led attack—has killed over 11,000 people, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Israeli troops on Friday attacked multiple hospitals in the besieged enclave, including the largest, where tens of thousands of civilians have sought shelter.
Throughout the bloodshed and Israel's destruction of civilian infrastructure including homes, schools, and places of worship, people around the world have taken to the streets to call for a cease-fire, with some also demanding International Criminal Court action on "escalating Israeli war crimes and genocide of the Palestinian people" in Gaza.
"Our call for a cease-fire is rooted in a sincere wish to see an end to all violence, especially that which targets civilians, while recognizing that this cannot be achieved unless the root causes of that violence, the 75 years of ongoing Nakba against the Palestinian people, are adequately addressed," the STWC webpage explains.
Nakba, or "catastrophe," is a term Palestinians use to describe the ethnic cleansing of over 750,000 people from Palestine during the creation of the modern state of Israel in 1947-48. During this latest monthlong war, at least two plans from Israeli officials to permanently expel Palestinians from Gaza have been circulated.
Right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a Monday interview with an American reporter that after the current assault ends, Israel plans to control Gaza for an "indefinite period," adding that his nation will "have the overall security responsibility because we've seen what happens when we don't have it."
U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has refused to support a cease-fire in Gaza, leaving some British Muslims feeling "disappointed and disheartened." The Conservative leader has also fired a government aide who called for cease-fire and condemned related demonstrations, saying this week that "my view is that these marches are disrespectful."
Faced with pressure to stop Saturday's march, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said Wednesday that "the laws created by Parliament are clear. There is no absolute power to ban protest." Noting Armistice Day events, he added that marchers had shown a "complete willingness to stay away from the Cenotaph and Whitehall and have no intention of disrupting the nation's remembrance events."
Sunak, who met with Rowley this week, said of the commissioner: "He has said that he can ensure that we safeguard remembrance for the country this weekend as well as keep the public safe. Now, my job is to hold him accountable for that."
Meanwhile, STWC welcomed the Met leader's acknowledgement that police lack the power to ban the upcoming demonstration, and declared that "any other decision would have represented a capitulation to political pressure by the government and would not have been accepted by the movement of solidarity with the Palestinian people."
"Saturday's march too will be peaceful and will restore the focus to where it should be—the suffering in Gaza and the urgent need for the British government to support a cease-fire," the coalition added. "We urge the largest possible turnout for Gaza on Saturday."
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As Gaza War Enters 'Second Stage,' Hundreds of Thousands March for Cease-Fire
"This is not about Hamas. This is about protecting Palestinian lives," one demonstrator said.
Oct 28, 2023
The day after Israel unleashed its most intensive bombing campaign against Gaza since October 7, hundreds of thousands of protesters marched in cities around the world calling for a cease-fire and the protection of Palestinian lives.
Gaza lost all telephone and internet communication Friday night as Israeli officials said the country had entered the "next stage" of the war on Saturday as it expanded its operations on the ground.
"[L]ast night Israel launched a major bombardment and cut off all communications. This is an act of pure barbarism," Ben Jamal, the director of Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), told Middle East Eye from a march in London. "So we are marching today, not knowing how many Palestinians are dead, how many children now lie under the rubble."
PSC estimated on social media that half a million people attended the London march, which went from Embankment past U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's official residence at Downing Street to Westminster. Aerial footage showed streets and bridges thick with crowds. Sunak has stopped short of calling for a cease-fire, and Great Britian has emphasized Israel's right to defend itself after the surprise October 7 attack by Hamas that killed around 1,400.
"The superpowers at play are not doing enough at the moment. This is why we're here: we're calling for a cease-fire, calling for Palestinian rights, the right to exist, to live, human rights, all our rights," London marcher Camille Revuelta toldReuters. "This is not about Hamas. This is about protecting Palestinian lives."
Protests also took place in cities across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, including what +972 Magazine journalist Oren Ziv said was the first anti-war protest in Tel Aviv.
Israeli officials said Saturday they had expanded their ground operations in Gaza after smaller raids Wednesday and Thursday night, while Hamas promised to meet them with "full force," Al Jazeera reported.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday night that Israel had entered the "second stage" of the war with an expanded ground operation, according toThe Associated Press.
He said the goals of the incursion were "to destroy the military and governmental capabilities of Hamas and bring the hostages home."
"The most important thing for us is for them to stop killing kids. They need to stop."
Friday's bombardment was heavy enough to cut most forms of communications to Gaza, leaving families, aid organizations, and news rooms unable to reach their loved ones or staff. Al Jazeera journalist Hani Mahmoud succeeded in reporting Saturday morning that Friday night had been "the most difficult and bloodiest night since the beginning of this war."
Mahmoud said Israel launched a major attack around 7 pm local time Friday near al-Shifa hospital in the north of Gaza and that "we have been hearing reports that hundreds of people have been killed in those areas and emergency services were not able to get to them in time to help."
"The problem with cutting Gaza from the outside world has made people feel it could be a genocide in the making without them knowing what has happened to their relatives," Mahmoud said.
The Gaza Health Ministry reported 377 more deaths since late Friday night, according to AP. The total death toll is now at more than 7.703 killed in Gaza, 3,595 of them children, Al Jazeera reported.
"The most important thing for us is for them to stop killing kids. They need to stop," Abdul Mahfuudi, who joined the London protest with his own children, told BBC News.
Saturday marked the third weekend in a row of Palestine solidarity marches across the U.K. Demonstrators also rallied in Manchester, Belfast, and Glasgow, among others.
Beyond the U.K., crowds marched for a cease-fire in Copenhagen; Rome; Stockholm; Istanbul; Wellington, New Zealand, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Reuters reported.
In Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan repeated his denials that Hamas a terrorist organization and said that Israel was an "occupier," according to Al Jazeera.
"The main culprit behind the massacre unfolding in Gaza is the West," he said.
Despite bans, a small group of protesters also gathered in Paris and thousands marched in Berlin, according to Reuters and Al Jazeera.
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