“We condemn the 16-year-long crippling siege of Gaza. We condemn the 56-year-long illegal occupation of Palestinian territories. And we condemn the ongoing 75-year-long Nakba which left 700,000 Palestinians without a home or a homeland.
“And finally, we condemn the British government’s refusal to take responsibility for their role in the ongoing ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people. In the coming days, we will see massive and tragic loss of life, and Zionism is solely responsible.”
Demonstrators wave placards
Large Palestinian flag raised by attendees
Hamid added: “We must stop this vicious cycle. But in order to stop it, we must solve the root cause. And the root cause of what’s going on right now... is the brutal and illegal occupation.”
World leaders must begin to take the “plight of Palestinians seriously,” he said, “then we can start to hope for peace".
The speaker continued: “But until then, the apartheid state will continue the provocations; the imprisonments; the demolitions; the killings; and the Palestinians will continue to enact their God-given right to resist oppression and occupation by any means necessary.”
A woman wearing a "Make Israel Palestine Again" cap
A placard with the words: "Zionist math is committing war crimes and being surprised when Palestinians fight back"
A woman with a sign saying, "Stop calling it a conflict. It is literally a genocide!!!"
Another speaker, Lindsey German from Stop the War Coalition, addressed the terrorism directed at Israeli civilians this weekend.
She said: “What has been going on in the last few days, the scenes from Israel are terrible scenes. People killed, and people injured, and people taken hostage and people driven from their homes. But war is terrible, and the people who suffer from wars are the civilians who may be totally innocent of anything at all.
“The real people we should blame for all this,” she continued, “are the people who continue to allow this situation to arise. They continue to allow this war against the Palestinians,”
A woman with a placard, allegedly written by her child, which reads: "God is with us. May God free Palestine. Idiot, get out. Is all of our land."
Demonstrators at the rally (Photo: Jon Santacruz)
She added, “What we’re here to say tonight, is this conflict has not come from nowhere. It’s not an irrational conflict. It’s not two sides both as bad as each other. It’s not Israel defending itself, it’s Israel defending its right to continue to oppress the Palestinians.”
Finally, she said: “When people say, ‘why don’t the Palestinians protest peacefully?’, what the hell do people think they’ve been doing for 75 years?”
German was interrupted shortly after by a chant from attendees. They sang: “We don’t want two state, we want ‘48”, and “there is only one solution, intifada revolution”.
Less than three miles away, the UK Parliament was lit up in the colours of the Israeli flag.
UK Parliament lit up in blue and white
