Over half a million march in London to demand an end to Israel's occupation

More than half a million people filled the streets of London on Saturday in one of the largest national marches for Palestine to date, calling for an end to Israel’s occupation and pledging to continue campaigning even after the Gaza ceasefire came into effect this week.

Organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), the protest began at Victoria Embankment and moved through central London before ending outside Downing Street, where a mass rally was held.

Protesters waved Palestinian flags, wore keffiyehs, and carried placards reading "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" and "Keir Starmer has blood on his hands", accusing the British prime minister of complicity in Israel's genocide in Gaza.

Demonstrators chanted against UK arms sales to Israel and accused the government of trying to silence pro-Palestine activism through new protest restrictions.

Police invoked the Public Order Act to designate protest routes and separate the march from a small counter-demonstration by the pro-Israel group 'Stop the Hate'.

The rally, the 32nd national march for Palestine in London since Israel's war on Gaza began in October 2023, featured speeches from politicians, trade union representatives, and activists who vowed to keep mobilising "until the occupation ends". 

PSC director Ben Jamal said the movement would not stop simply because a truce was in place.

"The plan put forward by Donald Trump is not a plan for lasting peace," he told the crowd. "It says nothing about apartheid, nothing about occupation, and nothing about the Palestinian people's right to self-determination."

At the Whitehall rally, Labour MP Apsana Begum led chants of "Stop arming Israel", declaring that "the Palestine solidarity movement is stronger than ever before". 

Lindsey German, from the Stop the War Coalition, condemned Western leaders for "handing Gaza to Trump and Tony Blair, the war criminal responsible for a million deaths in Iraq".

The demonstration came a day after Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire as part of the first phase of Trump's 20-point Gaza peace plan, which includes Israeli troop withdrawals and prisoner exchanges. Many protesters dismissed the plan as a continuation of apartheid and occupation under another name.

British officials, meanwhile, welcomed the truce. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the UK would play an "active role" in implementing the agreement, while reports suggested former prime minister Tony Blair may join the Gaza Reconstruction Council proposed in Trump's plan.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood had urged organisers to cancel last week's Palestine marches following an attack on a Manchester synagogue, but the PSC and several anti-Zionist Jewish groups rejected the call, calling it an "irresponsible and unjustified attempt to link Palestinians to antisemitism".