Thousands attend pro-Palestine protest as police warn of crackdown on slogans

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Thousands of protesters took to the streets of London on Saturday to march towards the continued assaults in Gaza.

More than 1,700 police officers are on responsibility for the march that goes by means of central London to Westminster.

Two arrests have to this point been made “in relation to offensive placards being carried”, the Metropolitan Police stated, after protesters have been warned that they face arrest in the event that they “intentionally push the limit” on placards and slogans.

The demonstration comes after the UK and US carried out dozens of airstrikes towards Houthi bases in Yemen.

The Iran-backed insurgent group has repeatedly focused business delivery within the Red Sea within the wake of Israel’s conflict towards Hamas following the October 7 assault.

Protesters carried banners and placards saying: “Ceasefire now” and “End the siege”. Some have been recorded seemingly chanting in favour of Yemen’s Houthi rebels, chanting: “Yemen, Yemen make us proud, turn another ship around.”

A quantity of situations are in place for the march, the police stated, with protesters not allowed to deviate from the route and speeches given a strict finish time.

Home Secretary James Cleverly stated he had been briefed by the Met’s commissioner Sir Mark Rowley on plans to “ensure order and safety” in the course of the protest.

“I back them to use their powers to manage the protest and crack down on any criminality,” the MP stated.

Speaking at Parliament Square, Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian ambassador to the UK, accused the British Government of “complicity” with Israel.

Mr Zomlot instructed the protesters Palestine was a “nation of freedom fighters”, saying: “I stand before you with a broken heart but not a broken spirit.”

He congratulated South Africa for bringing a genocide case towards Israel on the UN’s International Court of Justice.

The seventh National March for Palestine additionally options an look by Little Amal, an enormous puppet of a Syrian baby refugee, which can be a part of a gaggle of Palestinian kids.

The 3.5m puppet turned a world image of human rights after she journeyed 8,000km from the Turkish-Syrian border to Manchester in July 2021.

The London march was one of a number of others being held in European cities together with Paris, Rome, Milan the place hundreds additionally marched alongside the Irish capital’s important thoroughfare to protest Israel’s army operations within the Palestinian enclave.

In Dublin, a thousands-strong protest march reached the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs Demonstrators waving Palestinian flags joined chants calling for the Irish Government to assist boycott, divestment and sanction (BDS) actions and Israel.

Organisers additionally demanded that the Irish Government assist South Africa’s case towards Israel on the International Court of Justice.

Ireland’s important opposition events, together with Sinn Fein, Labour and the Social Democrats, have referred to as on the Government to endorse South Africa’s motion.

However, the Irish premier Leo Varadkar has stated the Government doesn’t intend to affix the case.

The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which organised the rally, stated the demonstration was half of worldwide day of motion calling for an finish to Israel’s operations in Gaza.