LONDON: Thousands of students protested in London and other UK cities on Tuesday, defying a plea from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to skip demonstrations on the second anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.
Chanting “Free Palestine,” students from several London universities walked out of classes at 2:00 p.m. (1300 GMT) to march through the center of the British capital.
Rallies or events including vigils were also held in other UK cities, including Edinburgh, Glasgow, Sheffield and Manchester.
Writing in The Times newspaper, Starmer alleged that regular pro-Palestinian protests had been used “to attack British Jews for something over which they have absolutely no responsibility.”
He called that “despicable” and “a total loss of empathy and humanity.”
“It’s un-British to have so little respect for others. And that’s before some of them decide to start chanting hatred toward Jewish people all over again.”
But protester Daniel, 19, from Kings College, London, said: “It’s important to show support as a Jewish student who opposes Zionism.”
He added he wanted to show “that it’s not anti-Semitic to oppose what’s happening right now in the Middle East, you know, the subjugation of Palestinian people.”
And Briton Sim Junaid said: “I feel to be British is to stand for British values, and one of those British values should be empathy... it’s about being human.”
An attack outside a synagogue in Manchester on October 2 left two people dead — one killed in the attack and the other from a fatal gunshot, likely from armed police officers.
Antisemitism warning
Israeli Emily Schrader, 34, visiting her family in the British capital, condemned the march as “very, very irresponsible. I think it sends a totally wrong message.”
In a separate statement, Starmer warned the past two years had seen “rising antisemitism” in the UK, including the car ramming and stabbing attack in Manchester, which struck on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.
“This is a stain on who we are, and this country will always stand tall and united against those who wish harm and hatred upon Jewish communities,” said the British leader.
Hamas’s October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Militants also seized 251 hostages, 47 of whom are still in Gaza. Of those, the Israeli military says 25 are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 67,160 Palestinians over the last two years, according to health ministry figures in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.
“Since that awful day, so many have endured a living nightmare,” Starmer said, vowing to continue efforts to bring home British hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrations went ahead over the weekend in Britain, despite pleas by the government for protesters to refrain from gathering following the Manchester attack.
Activist group Defend Our Juries said calls to scrap pro-Palestinian protests following the Manchester attack was “wrongly conflating the actions of the Israeli state with all Jews.”
“Jewish people around the world are not responsible for Israel’s crimes and there are many Jewish people who do not support the actions of the Israeli state,” DOJ’s Zoe Cohen said on Saturday.
