Just back from the demo in London. It was massive – probably the biggest Palestinian solidarity protest in British history, despite the freezing weather. I’m told Sky News reported a figure of 100,000 protesters earlier today – the demo organisers claimed it was more like 200,000, which sounds more plausible to me. The atmosphere was very charged – militant, even – although barring a few minor incidents near the Israeli embassy things remained peaceful. We began with a rally at Hyde Park corner, then marched down to the Israeli embassy for a second one. The streets were packed for a mile.
My camera was being infuriatingly shit, but a few photos and a couple of videos made it out OK. The best line of the day belonged to former British Ambassador Craig Murray, speaking at the second rally:
"Zionism is bullshit!"
Lowkey gave a brilliant performance at the Hyde Park rally. I got most of it on video:
You can listen to that song, 'Long Live Palestine', on his MySpace page.
A couple of other short clips:
OK, here are the pics:
I did take some overview-shots of the march, but they came out a bit, well...
what can I say? It was freezing!
Ellis Sharp and lenin have updates, videos and pics, and lenin has a useful account of the demo here. Today in the Guardian over 70 Jewish writers and activists signed a letter calling for Britain to recall its Ambassador in Tel Aviv and institute a campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel. As lenin notes, speakers at today’s rallies repeatedly emphasised – to loud applause - that this has nothing to do with Jews or Judaism but rather with the State of Israel’s grotesque policies of collective punishment, colonisation and mass murder. The size and energy of the march today demonstrates very clearly where the sympathies of the British public lie: with the people of Gaza and against the occupation, the siege and the horrific massacres of the past 14 days.
Israel today continued its assault, killing 33 Palestinians, most of them civilians. The total reported death count has now risen to over 850 people, with more than 3,500 injured. With Israel today threatening to escalate the assault still further, this is no time to ease up the pressure.
Cross-posted at The Heathlander