We have been organising weekly demonstrations to call for a ceasefire to end the indiscriminate bombing of Gaza, which to date has killed over 9,000 Palestinians, including more than 3,700 children.
Our next national march will take place on Saturday November 11th, 2023. We have made clear that we have no intention of marching on or near Whitehall, in order not to disrupt events at the Cenotaph.
Our planned route is Hyde Park to the US embassy, and we anticipate that the march will begin around 12.45, nearly 2 hours after the minute silence of commemoration for the war dead.
Given these facts, we are alarmed by members of the Government, including the Prime Minster, issuing statements suggesting that the march is a direct threat to the Cenotaph and designed to disrupt the Remembrance Day commemorations.
Such statements are encouraging the calls from far-rights activists and commentators who appear to be inciting action on the streets to stop the protests taking place and are deeply irresponsible.
Given the wider context of the previous statements by the Home Secretary seeking to demonise all of those marching in support of the rights of the Palestinian people, it is clear that these further statements are motivated by a desire to suppress widespread public support for an end to Israel’s bombardment of the people of Gaza.
Each of the demonstrations we have called have been peaceful and attended by hundreds of thousands of people and families from a diverse cross-section of British society. Those marching are united in their belief that violence should stop and that international law – which prohibits the targeting and killing of civilians – should be respected. To suggest that a march well away from Whitehall is a disrespect to the war dead is an insult to those marching for peace.
Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Friends of Al-Aqsa, Stop the War Coalition, Muslim Association of Britain, Palestinian Forum in Britain, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.