A rally outside King’s College Hospital (Guy’s Campus) on #MayDay4Palestine
May Day 2024 saw widespread action for Palestine as workers and students took to the streets and their campuses to step up demands for an end to the genocide in Gaza and the arming of Israel. Actions took place in schools, hospitals, offices, outside courts and through the centre of major cities, sending a message that we are with those suffering in Gaza.
Perhaps most significantly several student encampments were established on university campuses across the country, inspired by the actions of students and lecturers in the US which have escalated the pro-Palestine movement to a new level on the other side of the Atlantic.
The campuses of Bristol, Newcastle, Manchester, Sheffield and Leeds all saw the establishment of occupations dedicated to taking a stand for the Palestinians. Newcastle University’s ‘Apartheid Off Campus’ occupation said their numbers were ‘growing by the hour’ as they prepared for their first night.
⚠️ BREAKING: Newcastle University Students Establish an Encampment for Gaza and Call on Students Everywhere to “Rise Up!” pic.twitter.com/rlQwKUDDlR
— Palestine Deep Dive (@PDeepdive) May 1, 2024
🇵🇸WE’RE STAYING THE NIGHT🇵🇸
Day one of the encampment is coming to an end and we’re still going strong. Our numbers are growing by the hour and we are ready to stay as long as it takes for the Newcastle University to accept our demands!✊
FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA. pic.twitter.com/ryrEJGjuBV
— Newcastle Apartheid Off Campus (@LoCNewcastle) May 1, 2024
Similarly growing numbers were reported at other camps with support from staff reflecting a change in mood at UK universities. Sheffield Jews Against Israeli Apartheid tweeted photos of banners at the camp on the concourse of Sheffield University reading ‘This Uni Is Complicit in Genocide’. In Manchester a march joined the encampment from St Peter’s Square in the centre of the city to demonstrate public support.
We support their actions and call on all students and staff to do so and resolve to hold their University to account for its complicity with the genocide perpetrated by Israel in Palestine.#FreePalestine #StopArmingIsrael #MayDay4Palestine @SheffieldPSC pic.twitter.com/xcZ46uAhuK
— Sheffield Jews Against Israeli Apartheid (@SheffieldJews) May 1, 2024
Protest from St.Peters Square now arriving at the Manchester University student encampment protest. M13 9PL #FreePalestine #StopGazaGenocide #Manchester@GMSTWC @STWuk pic.twitter.com/9GApzVTipO
— Tony Wilson 🍉 #ceasefireNow #joinaunion (@Tony2Wilson) May 1, 2024
Stop the War sends its support and solidarity to all these occupations and calls on students around the country to escalate activity on campuses.
The day began with a large protest organised by Workers for a Free Palestine outside the Department for Business and Trade – the department responsible for licensing arms export contracts to Israel – on Whitehall. Hundreds of protestors could be seen chanting ‘end the occupation now’ and ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’.
Fantastic action by @Workers4Pal shutting down @biztradegovuk today 💪🏽
Solidarity with Palestine 🇵🇸 and with everyone fighting against the ongoing genocide
& thank you for standing with our members who want no part in it ✊#StopArmingIsrael @PCS_DIT @pcs_union https://t.co/N9n7ekkI3i
— PCS Union – DESNZ, DBT & DSIT in London 🚩💚✊🏾 (@PCSUnionBeisLDN) May 1, 2024
This is what we are talking about!
Power to all the workers taking action in solidarity with Palestine in Britain, Wales and Scotland! #Strike4Paleatine
#PalestineMayDay https://t.co/mC6IbODtZN— Workers in Palestine (@WorkersinPales1) May 1, 2024
Elsewhere, Jeremy Corbyn joined a small protest at his local university, London Metropolitan and King’s College held two big rallies at their Guy’s and Denmark Hill campuses. They called on King’s to ‘listen to our demands and #DivestNOW & for the government to #StopArmingIsrael’ with banners reading ‘Hands Off Rafah’. Other UCU protests took place at Brighton University, Striling University, Liverpool University, Liverpool John Moores University, Bradford College, City and Islington College and large congregations in both Oxford and Cambridge.
On May Day, we stood in solidarity with Palestine, and with people all around the world protesting in the name of peace, justice and humanity. #StopArmingIsrael pic.twitter.com/yY1SyTJcDM
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) May 1, 2024
Some photos from today’s Workplace Day of Action for Palestine in Oxford. Powerful speeches from trade union reps and students.#MayDay4Palestine #IWD2024 pic.twitter.com/uNu8NL5dI8
— Oxford UCU (@OxfordUCU) May 1, 2024
Homerton, Manchester Royal Infirmary, St George’s and Queen Elizabeth Hospital’s all held lunchtime walkouts. At Homerton staff held signs reading ‘NHS Workers Say Permanent Ceasefire Now’ with Unison flags held aloft. They also reminded their followers on X that ‘UNISON nationally calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, for an end to the arms trade with Israel, for the return of all hostages and for an end to the occupation and the blockade’.
Homerton UNISON branch members attended a vigil for Gaza today in their lunch break.
Calling for a permanent ceasefire, for an end to the arms trade with Israel and for aid to urgently be allowed in.@StWuk#MayDay4Palestine pic.twitter.com/2SmreFLwh7— HomertonUNISON (@HomertonUNISON) May 1, 2024
St George’s hospital lunchtime walkout for #Palestine in Tooting! 🇵🇸 #MayDay4Palestine #PalestineSolidarityProtest pic.twitter.com/xMjoXdpeLi
— Stop the War (@STWuk) May 1, 2024
The May Day march through central London saw RMT members carrying a banner that read ‘Solidarity with Palestine’ and the crowds in Trafalgar Square were addressed by the Palestinian Ambassador, Hussam Zumlot.
International Workers Day 2024 was a day of international solidarity focussed sharply on the genocide in Gaza. The movement must ensure this is another building block in widening the struggle for peace and justice in Palestine.
We call on all those involved to continue spreading the word for the next National Demonstration on Saturday 18 May, when we’ll be marking the 76th anniversary of the Nakba, and to join the Stop the War Trade Union Conference on 8th June. At the conference trade unionists from across the UK will be coming together to discuss the escalation of tensions across the globe and their experiences of building pro-Palestine initiatives in their unions and workplaces. Get your branch to support and send a delegation.