Saturday’s Palestine march in London set to coincide with a poignant anniversary

Tens of thousands of demonstrators are set to join the Palestine march to the US embassy on Saturday 15 February as the Gaza ceasefire hangs by a thread, with Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowing to resume the bombing and US president Donald Trump declaring “let all hell break loose”, after Hamas delayed the release of more hostages, citing Israeli ‘violations’ of the deal.

Palestine march: pertinent timing

The demo is, coincidentally, the 22nd anniversary of the biggest march in British history – over the West’s second invasion of Iraq – and the signs are it will be a very big protest, coming as it does as continued British and international government and media complicity over the genocide, and Trump’s declaration of intent to ‘take over’ the Gaza Strip and ethnically cleanse its people, are emboldening Netanyahu to go ever further.

This Palestine march also takes place a month after the Met Police banned the last national Palestine protest (18 January) from assembling at or marching to the BBC, and violently arrested Stop the War’s vice chair and chief steward Chris Nineham during the protest, charging him under the Public Order Act.

In an unprecedented attack on the leadership of the Palestine coalition and the right to free assembly, the Met followed Chris’s arrest by also charging Palestine Solidarity Campaign director Ben Jamal.

For fifteen months, pro-Palestine marchers have been calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, and an end to the genocide. On the 24th national demonstration, they will be demanding that the US take its hands off Gaza, that Israel stops its deadly raids in the occupied West Bank, along with its continued bombing across the Middle East, and that Britain stops arming Israel.

Numerous speakers

Among the speakers on Saturday’s Palestine march will be renowned Palestinian activist Iyad Burnat, who has travelled to the UK from the West Bank. For over 20 years, Iyad has led the village of Bil’in’s non-violent struggle in the occupied Palestinian territory. He is the head of the Bil’in Popular Committee against Israel’s illegal apartheid wall. Iyad’s story is featured in the Oscar-nominated documentary Five Broken Cameras.

Other speakers at the Palestine march include Zarah Sultana, MP for Coventry South, Michael Rosen, the author, poet and presenter, journalist Owen Jones, Palestinian activist, organiser and storyteller Jeanine Hourani, Eddie Dempsey, RMT senior assistant general secretary, Jeremy Corbyn, MP for Islington North, Hamza Stitan, Palestinian activist, Lindsey German, convenor at Stop the War coalition, Ben Jamal, director of Palestinian Solidarity Campaign, and the Palestinian Ambassador to the UK Husam Zumlot.

Saturday’s demonstration assembles at noon in Whitehall, marching to the US embassy at Nine Elms.

Featured image via the Canary