{"id":491633,"date":"2025-10-11T18:29:16","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T18:29:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/491633\/"},"modified":"2025-10-11T18:29:16","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T18:29:16","slug":"relief-scepticism-over-gaza-ceasefire-at-pro-palestine-rally-in-london-gaza-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/491633\/","title":{"rendered":"Relief, scepticism over Gaza ceasefire at pro-Palestine rally in London | Gaza News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters have marched in London, expressing scepticism and cautious hope as a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza has entered its second day.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re \u2026 sharing the relief of the Palestinian people,\u201d said Ben Jamal, director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which has organised mass monthly pro-Palestinian rallies in London since the start of the war on October 7, 2023.<\/p>\n

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\u201cBut we also come here sharing their trepidation that this ceasefire will not hold, rooted in the knowledge that Israel has violated every ceasefire agreement it\u2019s ever signed,\u201d Jamal told the AFP news agency on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Despite concerns about United States President Donald Trump\u2019s proposed plan to end the war on Gaza<\/a>, which calls for a transitional authority ultimately headed by the US leader, Jamal said there was an \u201cimmense sense of relief\u201d.<\/p>\n

A sea of red and green, the colours of the Palestinian flag, formed along the embankment of the River Thames in central London, where the largely peaceful march began.<\/p>\n

\"ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS\/BRITAIN-PROTEST\"Police officers remove pro-Israel protesters from a London rally in support of Palestinians [Jaimi Joy\/Reuters]<\/p>\n

Protesters donned black and white keffiyeh scarves, carried signs saying \u201cStop Starving Gaza\u201d and \u201cStop the genocide\u201d, and chanted \u201cFree Palestine\u201d and \u201cFrom the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.\u201d<\/p>\n

Police removed several pro-Israel protesters from the crowd.<\/p>\n

Al Jazeera\u2019s Rory Challands, reporting from the rally in London, said there has been \u201cno cease to the demonstrations \u2026 in the UK expressing solidarity with Palestine\u201d.<\/p>\n

Challands said that while 32 such protests have been held so far, Saturday\u2019s was a \u201chuge one\u201d as protesters came from all over the country.<\/p>\n

People travelled to the capital on buses and trains from cities including Bristol, Cambridge and Sheffield.<\/p>\n

The government in the UK has been making it increasingly difficult for pro-Palestine demonstrations to take place and wants the police to have more power to restrict such gatherings, Challands noted.<\/p>\n

Last weekend, London police arrested at least 442 people at a rally in support of the proscribed group Palestine Action in central London.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s two-year war on Gaza has killed more than 67,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities, and caused a humanitarian crisis. Famine conditions were declared in some parts of the besieged territory last month, and a UN commission has accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.<\/p>\n

Challands said people were sceptical that the latest ceasefire would hold for a \u201csignificant amount of time\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are worried about the perseverance of US President Donald Trump,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Katrina Scales, a 23-year-old sociology and psychology student attending the rally, said the ceasefire was \u201cnot enough\u201d and she planned to keep attending marches.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m here with my friends to help show that there is continuously eyes on Gaza, even considering the current ceasefire,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Trade unionist Steve Headley, in his 50s, said he is also unconvinced.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully now we\u2019ve got the first steps towards peace, but we\u2019ve been here before,\u201d Headley told AFP. He questioned Trump\u2019s \u201cplans for a \u2018Riviera\u2019 in Gaza<\/a>\u201d that the US president touted this year.<\/p>\n

\"ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS\/BRITAIN-PROTEST\"Many of the demonstrators in London are sceptical US President Donald Trump\u2019s plan for Gaza will hold [Jaimi Joy\/Reuters]<\/p>\n

For 74-year-old Miranda Finch, part of a group marching under the banner \u201cdescendants of Holocaust survivors against Gaza genocide\u201d, the ceasefire was \u201cvery little\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Palestinians are not going back to nothing. They\u2019re going back to less than nothing. Rubble on top of bodies on top of sewage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fabio Capogreco, 42, who was attending his fifth demonstration with his two children and wife, said the ceasefire was \u201ctoo little, too late\u201d, adding that those complicit in the war need to be held accountable.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully it\u2019s one of the last times we need to come here to manifest,\u201d the bar manager said. \u201cBut I think it\u2019s too early to say everything is OK.\u201d<\/p>\n

Protests were also planned later on Saturday in other European cities, including Berlin. A march is also expected on Sunday in Sydney, Australia, where pro-Palestine demonstrations have filled streets in recent weeks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters have marched in London, expressing scepticism and cautious hope as a ceasefire…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":491634,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,393,299,2194,4884,257,839,12,1814,2579,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-491633","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-gaza","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-london","14":"tag-middle-east","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-palestine","17":"tag-protests","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115356957220223513","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=491633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491633\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/491634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=491633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=491633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}