Pro-Palestinian protesters poured onto London’s streets on the fifth national demonstration for Palestine. At least 300,000 people marched for Palestine in London on Saturday, a magnificent turnout that underlines the determination to win justice.

It’s not surprising that the march was smaller than last time, but it was still huge. On most occasions, it would be rightly seen as historic.

Some people will hope the brief pause in the Israeli assault will become a full ceasefire and that will lead to some sort of settlement. But those marching in London do not accept that’s going to happen. They are a very large, active and knowledgeable core of a bigger movement.

WE PUBLISH  STORIES  CENSORED BY WESTERN MEDIA

They rightly think Israel is highly likely to renew its brutal attacks when the four-day pause ends on Tuesday. Even if the pause is extended, most marchers do not believe Palestinian liberation is coming as a result of this present process.

Demonstrator Reshna said, ‘The temporary halt in the fighting is not the justice the Palestinians need. There have been 75 years of oppression, the siege of Gaza, the repeated assaults in Gaza—what the Israelis have called ‘mowing the lawn’. None of that has come to an end. Apartheid is still in place. Today there might not be bombing, but it could start again very soon.

The demonstrations and other solidarity actions mean people are waking up. This is what we need to increase the pressure.’

Everywhere there was anger against Keir Starmer for his failure to call a ceasefire and to break from the US-Tory position of unflinching support for Israel. Amy told Socialist Worker that she remembered being on the streets to demonstrate against the Iraq War 20 years ago when she was a child.

‘I remember the protests and I remember how great they were. But I also remember being so disappointed in the Labour Party and how they still went to war. ‘Today they are doing the same thing. At the moment we’re still being ignored by Starmer and Labour. I don’t think I could vote Labour again.’

EUROPE RENAISSANCE READERSHIP SOARS BY 400 PER CENT

Amy added that protesters must do everything to get those in power to listen. ‘We need to have bigger protests, blockades, die-ins and strikes,’ she said. ‘People are scared that they could be punished but if we all do it, they can’t punish us all.’ 

Other marchers wanted the spirit of the London march to echo around the world. Leyla, a delivery driver, came from Ipswich where she has been organizing local solidarity demonstrations. ‘I want our protests to be heard in the Middle East,’ she said. ‘And I want them to spur on the resistance there. But what I want more than anything is a new Arab Spring across the whole region to help liberate Palestine.

‘I lived in Egypt during the 2011 uprising, and that’s when I became politically active. l learnt something important that year. It is only the workers and the poor that really want change. The compromised middle classes want to keep things as they are.

WE WELCOME READERS’ COMMENTS ON OUR STORIES

‘I want this demonstration to inspire people back there, and to create a space for all the anger that there is about Palestine.’ The movement must not pause, halt or have a ceasefire. It has to escalate.

Meanwhile, around 2000 people marched through Cardiff on Saturday. An angry, vibrant, diverse and young protest went through the center of the city. There was also a brilliant break-away section that rallied outside the BBC offices, chanting, ‘BBC shame on you,’ before rejoining the rally at the end. Trade union banners on the march included Swansea Unison and PCS.  BE A CITIZEN JOURNALIST BY POSTING OUR STORIES ON SOCIAL MEDIA