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Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters marched through central London on Saturday, reiterating calls for a ceasefire in Gaza.<\/p>\n
The protest marked the 76th anniversary of what Palestinians refer to as the Nakba – the mass displacement of people after the creation of Israel in 1948.<\/p>\n
The Metropolitan Police said it had held “regular discussions” with organisers the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign to minimise disruption.<\/p>\n
A counter-demonstration by pro-Israel group Enough is Enough took place at Piccadilly Circus at the same time.<\/p>\n
Ch Supt Colin Wingrove, leading this weekend\u2019s policing operation, said: “All Londoners have a right to have their voices heard, just as they also have a right to go about their lives without fear or being subject to serious disruption.”<\/p>\n
The pro-Palestinian march was the 14th such event held in London since the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October, in which 1,200 people were killed and more than 240 kidnapped.<\/p>\n
After the 7 October attack, Israel launched an offensive in Gaza that has killed more than 35,000 people, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.<\/p>\n
Demonstrators, some carrying “ceasefire now” placards, were heard singing and chanting as they made their way from Regent’s Street to Whitehall, where they gathered for speeches.<\/p>\n
One protester, Sandi, a Palestinian who has family in Gaza, said that she had not heard from her relatives there for the last 10 days.<\/p>\n
“The internet connection is down, so sometimes it’s longer – weeks – that I don’t hear from them,” she told the BBC.<\/p>\n
“Like everyone else in Gaza, they’re suffering from a lack of safety, access to food, internet, medical aid and freedom of movement.”<\/p>\n
Stephen Kapos, a Holocaust survivor, said he was attending the march to express solidarity with the Palestinian people and to protest against what he described as Israeli leaders’ “misuse of the memory of the Holocaust”.<\/p>\n
“It is an insult to my family, an insult to the memory of the Holocaust and an insult to the suffering of that period. I’m protesting against that. Not in our name,” he said.<\/p>\n
The Palestinian Solidarity Campaign said demonstrators were calling “again for action to end the genocide in Gaza”.<\/p>\n
The UN’s top court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), is considering a case brought by South Africa in January accusing Israel of committing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza.<\/p>\n
Israel has rejected the claim as false and “grossly distorted”.<\/p>\n
The ICJ is not expected to deliver a ruling on the genocide case for several years.<\/p>\n
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