LONDON

Thousands of people marched through central London on Saturday to mark the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people, calling for an end to Israel’s occupation and for the UK to halt arms sales to Israel.

Demonstrators gathered at Hyde Park Corner in the afternoon before finishing with a rally in Whitehall.

The event was organized by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), alongside the Stop the War Coalition and several trade unions.

The solidarity campaign said on the US social media company X: “Thousands out in the rain in London to march for Palestine … We demand our government #StopArmingIsrael and pressure it to stop committing genocide against the Palestinian people.”

Ben Jamal, the campaign’s director, said in a video that the day was established by the UN in 1977 to highlight that Palestinians “did not have their right of self-determination realized” and were living under “a system of brutal occupation.”

He said the day had come to symbolize “the complete failure of the international community” to act.

Jamal noted that while in 1977 there were “12,000 illegal settlers in East Jerusalem (and) the West Bank,” the figure is now “close to 750,000.”

He added that granting “impunity” to Israel for “occupation and apartheid” had led “inevitably to the genocide we have all been witnessing.”

Jamal also criticized a recently passed UN Security Council resolution, saying it “doesn't support the implementation of international law … gives governance of Gaza to the US and gives the Palestinian people no say in how they are to be governed.”

He accused the UK government of “complicity” through diplomatic support and ongoing arms sales to Israel.

London’s Metropolitan Police imposed conditions on the event, saying they were intended to balance the right to protest with minimizing disruption.

The Palestinian Mission to the UK posted a message of thanks on social media, saying: “We would like to thank all the freedom-loving people in Britain for standing with us … Palestine will be free with your unwavering support and dedication.”

The UN designated this day in 1977 as an international occasion to express support for the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, foremost among them the right to self-determination, national independence, sovereignty, and the return of refugees to the homes from which they were displaced in 1948.

Israel has killed nearly 70,000 people, mostly women and children, and injured over 170,000 others in attacks in Gaza since October 2023.

In November 2024, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

The Israeli army has also escalated its attacks in the West Bank since the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023.

More than 1,085 Palestinians have since been killed, and 10,700 others injured in attacks by the army and illegal settlers in the occupied territory. More than 20,500 people have also been arrested.

In a landmark opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.