Thousands of protesters marched through the streets of London this Saturday shouting “Free Palestine!” and flying Palestinian flags. Police kept close watch on the street march, although they did not intervene directly despite Interior Secretary Suella Braverman’s warning that flying a Palestinian flag could be considered a crime. “criminal offense” in the context of the current conflict in Israel.
The crowd chanted slogans like “Israel, terrorist state” y “Stop the massacre in Gaza!”but there were no direct references to Hamas, nor chants with references to the use of violence.
“Many Britons have felt intimidated this week by the messages sent from the Government, but we are supposed to be in a democracy and that we still have the right to freedom of expression“, claimed the artist David Hugh Lockettopening the demonstration with a replica of the Guernica.
“The horror that expressed Picasso is the same as what the population in Gaza is now experiencing,” Lockett warned. “Hamas’ actions were aberrant, but they cannot justify what is happening, with the green light from the United States, the United Kingdom and even our leader of the labor opposition Keir Starmer“.
A Palestinian flag of more than 15 meters opened the march and was waved by dozens of arms in clear defiance of Suella Braverman’s instructions to the police, after the incidents of antisemitism registered this week.