. TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY .

An article by Qazi Zaid from the Middle East Eye

Hundreds of thousands of pro-Palestine demonstrators took to the streets of central London on Saturday, calling for lasting peace in Gaza, a day after the ceasefire took effect.

According to the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), which organised the demonstrations against Israel’s genocide in Gaza along with the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Muslim Association of Britain, Friends of Al Aqsa and Palestinian Forum in Britain among others, more than 600,000 people joined the march.

Some 500,000 march through Whitehall to demand lasting peace in Gaza, London, 11 October 2025 (Supplied)

PSC director Ben Jamal said that the plan put forward by US President Donald Trump was “not a plan for enduring peace”, adding that it fails to address “the root cause of violence”.

He vowed that demonstrations would continue “until the Palestinian people are finally free”, even as Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced new measures to restrict demonstrations, saying they had caused fear within the Jewish community. 

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the government was considering potential action against specific chants used at pro-Palestine rallies.

Saturday’s protest marked the 32nd national demonstration since Israel’s military campaign began, PSC said.

Protestors carried Palestinian flags, banners calling for an end to UK arms sales to Israel and placards demanding accountability. 

The protests come after the US-brokered ceasefire took effect on Friday, easing more than two years of bombardment by Israel that has killed more than 67,000 Palestinians since October 2023. 

The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory in September said Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli military on Friday announced it had begun preparations to “partially” pull back troops.

According to the initial stages of the deal, Israel will withdraw to a designated line, and Hamas will release around 20 living captives, along with the bodies of about 25 others.

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Israeli Army Radio on Friday announced that the interior ministry in Israel has published the names of 250 Palestinian captives who will be released as part of the ceasefire agreement.

The report said that 100 of these Palestinians held in prisons will be allowed to leave for the West Bank, and five will head to Jerusalem. 

The US military on Saturday said following the announcement of the ceasefire, Israel had completed the first phase of withdrawal from Gaza.

However, despite the ceasefire, Israeli forces have killed at least 17 Palestinians and wounded 71 others in the past 24 hours, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

Israeli forces also shelled areas across the Gaza Strip.

The truce officially began in the early hours of Friday, after receiving final approval from the Israeli government. However, air strikes, artillery fire and gunshots were reported in Gaza City and Khan Younis. 

The United Nations has said that 170,000 metric tons of humanitarian aid have already been positioned in neighbouring countries such as Jordan and Egypt and that officials were awaiting permission from Israeli forces to restart their work. 

Unicef on Friday called for all crossings into Gaza to be opened, saying children in the territory were especially vulnerable because they have gone without proper food for long periods. 

Gaza’s civil defence has said that some 9,500 people are still missing under the rubble across Gaza and its teams have begun rescue operations, recovering the bodies of some 155 people so far. 

According to the agency, 500,000 displaced Palestinians have arrived in  Gaza City since the ceasefire took hold on Friday. People have erected makeshift tents on the rubble, but lack adequate shelter as aid is not due to enter the Strip until tomorrow.

Some 700,000 people were displaced from Gaza City and the north by intense Israeli bombardment and raids in the region.

Gaza’s Government Media Office has called for a war crimes probe and asked for “the international community, the United Nations, all international and legal organisations, and the International Criminal Court to hold the leaders of Israel accountable and to not grant them any political or legal immunity”.

The media office said it wanted the formation of an independent international committee to investigate war crimes and genocide and ensure the return and compensation of all displaced people. 

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Email received from No to Nato List

COUNTERFIRE – October 8, 2025 – Welfare not warfare goes international 

An international mass meeting against war and genocide took place on Sunday in Paris. Four thousand people, including delegations from nineteen countries, filled out the Dome de Paris. The arena was a sea of Palestine flags and flags of socialist and anti-war organisations.

The scale of the meeting was a breakthrough for the international movement against genocide in Gaza and the rearmament of Europe. …

Following the Italian general strike, unions in Spain have called a national walkout on 15 October. Activists from Germany, Denmark and Portugal spoke about how the national demonstrations in London have given inspiration and confidence to activists in their countries to organise their own mass demonstrations.

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There was a great feeling of unity and solidarity, but also a sense of urgency. European governments have been central to facilitating Israel’s genocide, in prolonging the war in Ukraine, and in spending hundreds of billions more on weapons. 

The meeting demanded ‘not a penny, not a weapon, not a human life for war.’

StoptheWar Coalition – October 8, 2025 – International meeting in Paris  

Activists and politicians from Europe and North America have held an anti-war conference in Paris. The event was aimed at coordinating the European-wide opposition to the Genocide in Gaza and the war drive of the European Union. 

150 delegates from 20 different countries and more than 4,000 people attending the meeting. Below the broadcast of the meeting in English. Speakers from many countries.

At about 1,48 min an overview of the huge size of the event.

https://www.youtube.com/live/lXG4g2iFj5E

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An article by Brett Wilkins from Common Dreams (reprinted  under Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)

Tens of thousands of students walked out of classrooms in cities and towns across Spain on Thursday to protest Israel’s ongoing US-backed genocide in Gaza and abduction of Global Sumud Flotilla members, dozens of whom are Spanish.

Students in Málaga, Spain march behind a banner reading “Stop Everything to Stop the Genocide” on October 2, 2025. (Photo by Jesus Merida/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

The National Students’ Union organized Thursday’s protests under the slogan “stop the genocide against the Palestinian people.” Demonstrations, which took part in at least 39 cities and towns, varied in size from small groups to thousands who turned out in Barcelona and the capital Madrid, where students held banners with messages like “Stop Everything to Stop the Genocide,” “All Eyes on the Global Sumud Flotilla,” and “Free Palestine!”

“We’re not going to look the other way,” the union said in a statement. “The Palestinian cause is the cause of the youth and the millions who stand for human rights and social justice. That is why… we called the general student strike to empty the classrooms and fill the streets with dignity.”

Maria, a Spanish student interviewed by Turkey’s Anadolu Ajansı in Madrid, said: “While young people like us are being killed and subjected to genocide in Palestine, we cannot be in class. The whole world must do everything it can to stop this genocide.”

Another Madrid protester, Francesca—an Italian student studying in Spain—told Anadolu that “we must pressure governments to stop Israel.”

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“Allowing genocide in full view of the world is unacceptable,” she added. “The killing of women, children, and students in Palestine must end.”

In Barcelona—whose former leftist Mayor Ada Colau was among the dozens of Spaniards who set sail for Gaza from the port city—an estimated 6,500 students and others took to the streets Thursday.

“What I can do is be here, with my presence,” student Donia Armani told El País. “The more people, the better; so the Palestinians will not be alone.”

Armani’s mother added, “The Palestinians are like a brotherly people, we feel a lot from the absurd images we see.”

Ana, a 14-year-old student protesting in Barcelona, said: “I think it’s very bad what’s happening,” adding that Israel does “not let food arrive and also bombs them, which causes many, especially small children, to die, and I am very sorry.”

Thursday’s walkouts took place as Israeli forces continued assaulting Gaza on Thursday, killing scores of Palestinians amid a backdrop of ongoing famine and forced displacement. Since October 2023, Israeli forces have killed at least 66,225 Palestinians in Gaza, although experts say the actual death toll is much higher. At least 168,938 other Palestinians have been wounded, and thousands more are missing and presumed dead.

Spain’s socialist-led government has been a leading critic of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, taking numerous proactive steps including cutting off arms transfers to the erstwhile ally, prohibiting the shipment of fuel to the Israeli military, formally recognizing Palestinian statehood, and backing South Africa’s genocide case currently before the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

The Spanish Foreign Ministry says at least 30 Spaniards are among the many Global Sumud Flotilla activists seized by Israeli forces in international waters overnight Thursday while attempting to deliver desperately needed humanitarian aid to Gaza.

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An article from the Peoples Dispatch

On September 22, approximately one million people across Italy staged a general strike in support of Palestine and the Global Sumud Flotilla, offering a vision of solidarity sharply at odds with the one displayed by European leaders at the United Nations these days. Ports, train stations, and major junctions were shut down as workers, many of whom members of the grassroots union Unione Sindacale di Base (USB), brought the country to a halt.

(Editor’s note: Italian unions again called a general strike for Friday, October 3, in solidarity with the international aid flotilla for Gaza, while protests sprang up in a number of cities late on Wednesday after reports that the ships had been intercepted by military personnel.)

USB’s fire brigades members lead strike rally. Source: USB

In Rome alone, 300,000 demonstrators occupied the city’s main railway hub before marching through the streets. “The call came from Genoa’s dockworkers, and here we are: we’ve blocked everything,” the protesters proclaimed. Among those leading the crowd were firefighters’ union representatives, who told il manifesto: “First responders will never be complicit in genocide, and we are protesting a government that is entrapping us in rearmament.”

Port cities against arms trade and genocide

Earlier this month, as the Global Sumud Flotilla prepared to launch, members of the dockworkers’ collective CALP in Genoa vowed to halt port operations if Israel attacked or blocked the fleet. Weeks later, following continuous local mobilizations and public assemblies, they made good on their promise. Thousands shut down Genoa’s port from the early morning hours, joined by workers in the strategic harbors of Trieste, Venice, and Livorno. Rallies erupted in Bologna, Milan, Turin, Naples, across Sicily and Sardinia, and in dozens of other localities, where teachers, parents, and students walked out of schools together, chanting for a free Palestine.

Speaking from the Genoa blockade, Marta Collot of the left party Potere al Popolo stressed that the strike demonstrated concrete solidarity with Palestinians, affirmed support for their legitimate resistance, and denounced European complicity in genocide. “Embargo and sanctions: these must be our priorities,” Collot said.

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Authorities responded to the massive mobilization with violence. Police forces used water cannons against protesters demanding an end to Italy’s arms trade with Israel and calling for severing all political and economic ties. Despite growing public pressure, Giorgia Meloni’s government has refused to act against Israel, instead continuing communications with Israeli officials and arms deliveries through the state-linked company Leonardo.

Only days before the strike, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Matteo Salvini, leader of the far-right Lega, appeared in an interview with Israeli media, in which he supported Israel’s “right to build itself a serene future” as occupation forces inflicted even more destruction upon Gaza City. In its campaign “to build a serene future,” Israel has killed at least 65,000 Palestinians in Gaza, including over 1,000 health workers and hundreds of journalists. While some government figures signaled mild unease about recent attacks, Salvini set out his allegiance in very clear terms: “Defending Israel’s right to exist is complicated right now, but friends are revealed in the most difficult moments.”

In some strike locations, protesters singled out Salvini’s statements in their speeches. In Venice, they sent what they termed a special message to “a special enemy,” insisting that their loyalty was with Palestinians under attack and their energy committed to building international solidarity.

International solidarity is “alive and kicking”

The mass character of Monday’s strike likely shook much of Italy’s political class. In recent years, the government had passed measures to restrict demonstrations and downplayed the organizing capacity of trade unions and the left. Yet weeks of continuous protests culminating in the general strike undermined these efforts.

“Workers have returned to center stage and are calling on citizens, all citizens, to stand up. They are not doing so for a contract renewal but to demand justice for a distant and tormented people,” USB declared on the day of the strike. “In this age of selfishness and individualism, this seems unthinkable. But no, solidarity between peoples and brotherhood beyond borders are not dead and buried values; on the contrary, they are alive and kicking.”

For Potere al Popolo’s Giuliano Granato, the strike also captured broader anger. “Palestine has given a name to our discontent,” he told Peoples Dispatch. “The outrage, protest, and anger over the massacre of the Palestinian people has intersected with years of oppression, repression, and deteriorating material conditions. For young people in particular, there is the absence of a future, fear, and the awareness of living in societies where only the horrendously rich and powerful have a say.”

The momentum built by the strike is set to continue. Italian dockworkers will host an international sectoral meeting on September 26–27, bringing together trade unions capable of disrupting Europe’s arms flows to Israel. National demonstrations in solidarity with Palestine are also planned for October 4, as eyes remain fixed on the Global Sumud Flotilla. If Israel attempts to stop it, Italian workers have already shown they are ready to block the country – sending a signal that could inspire others to organize along the same lines.

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An article by Shabbir Lakha from Counterfire

Amid the state clampdown on Palestine solidarity, hundreds of thousands marched through London in defiant opposition to the genocide, reports Shabbir Lakha

Recently, The Economist remarked that the “Starmerites thought they had defeated the politics of Palestine. It may defeat them.” To prove how correct this assessment is, on Saturday, [August 9] an estimated 300,000 people marched through central London for the 28th national demonstration for Palestine since October 2023.

Video of march

It was an objectively huge demonstration, but even more impressive considering it was called with two-weeks’ notice, in the middle of August, and despite the police’s best efforts to intimidate protesters and to delay the coalition from announcing the route.

The demonstration was emotionally charged, angry and militant. Along with the usual array of placards taking aim at Starmer and calling for action, there were noticeably more signs relating to the clampdown on our democratic rights and civil liberties. The huge number of banners of local groups from across the country showed the truly national character of the march. The one noticeable absence was any significant presence of trade union flags or banners.

Over 800 people also gathered in Parliament Square to defy the proscription of Palestine Action, and the Met Police arrested 466 people – including a blind man in a wheelchair and a 90-year-old woman. The Met Police had set up field arrest-processing sites at the top and bottom of Whitehall, and swarms of them and their reinforcements from forces around the country trotted about in stormtrooper formations throughout the day.

As Lindsey German, Convenor of Stop the War Coalition said in her speech,
“We are bitterly opposed to the proscription of Palestine Action. It is not terrorism to carry out direct action. It is not terrorism to support the Palestinians… There is something deeply, deeply wrong when a society allows Israel to commit genocide but cannot allow protests on the streets of London… We will continue protesting, and we will win.”

The weekend’s mobilisations come after weeks of horrifying images of Palestinian children starving to death, of seeing desperate Palestinians being shot dead while queueing for aid in cattle-pens, and following Netanyahu’s announcement of his plan to launch a full military invasion and total re-occupation of Gaza.

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Keir Starmer’s pathetic statement in response offers only the mildest criticism to an open declaration of intent to commit further war crimes and to ethnically cleanse the Palestinian people. His ‘threat’ of recognising a Palestinian state rings hollow while he continues to arm the genocidal Israeli state, train its soldiers on RAF bases and provide intelligence from RAF spy flights.

But his meek words are nonetheless a departure from his October 2023 claim that Israel ‘has the right’ to cut off food, water and electricity for Gaza’s civilian population. Starmer is reacting to the persistent groundswell of opposition his government is facing over its role in facilitating genocide.

The backbone of this has been the consistent mass mobilisations that have repeatedly brought hundreds of thousands of people onto the streets of the capital. Polling shows that a growing majority of the population back a ceasefire, arms embargo and sanctions on Israel. In recent weeks, there has been a noticeable sea change in the coverage and editorial lines of mainstream media outlets, including the Daily Express, the Financial Times and The Economist.

This is coupled by a rapidly expanding list of celebrities and cultural figures speaking out in all forums against the genocide and the British government’s actions. Saturday’s national demonstration was addressed by Bafta-nominated actor Denise Gough, comedian Ivo Graham, and Danni Perry, a dancer who held up a Palestinian flag at the Royal Opera House and successfully campaigned to get the Royal Ballet and Opera to cancel its production in Tel Aviv.

Denise Gough told Counterfire,
“I’m here at the rally because if I don’t spend my time in spaces where people have care for the rest of the world then I feel very, very alone. It’s important for all of us to come here so that we can get re-energised, because genocide is exhausting.”

When the situation in Palestine is as dire as it is, when there is growing support among some of the most influential figures in society for an end to British support for Israel, and when the government is on the backfoot, is precisely the time to escalate the movement to put an end to Starmer’s support for genocide and to defend our right to protest.
Upcoming mobilisations:

Saturday 16 August: Stop Arming Israel – protest at RAF High Wycombe

Saturday 6 September: National demonstration for Palestine – central London

Saturday 27 September: National demonstration at Labour Conference – Liverpool

Sunday 5 October: International Meeting against the War – Paris

Shabbir Lakha is a Stop the War officer, a People’s Assembly activist and a member of Counterfire.

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