Thousands march in London, Berlin and Dublin over Gaza as strikes continue

Thousands march through central London

Several thousand people marched through central London on Saturday, setting off at midday from the Victoria Embankment towards a rally near Whitehall. The National March for Palestine was organised by the Palestine Coalition, which the Guardian says has held more than 30 mass demonstrations since October 2023. Organisers said 250,000 people were at the march by Saturday afternoon, while AFP described several thousand marchers. Protesters carried placards reading 'End the genocide' and 'Free Palestine', and a two-minute silence was held for the lives lost in Gaza. Stop The Hate UK, a Jewish-led pro-Israel group, staged a small counter-demonstration.

Aimee Shalan, director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, explained to AFP why the group had gathered.

We are here today to mark three years of the ongoing genocide in Gaza

Policing and arrests

The Metropolitan Police imposed conditions on the event to 'minimise the risk of serious disruption to communities'. Its posts on X said several arrests had been made, including a man and a woman carrying placards supporting Palestine Action, a group the previous Labour government defined as terrorist last year. Separately, protesters were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage after climbing onto the Battle of Britain memorial on Victoria Embankment. Police warned they could arrest anyone who covered their face to conceal their identity and intimidate others. Senior Met officer Carl Galvin set out the force's position.

We will take a zero-tolerance approach to hate crime and other offending

Berlin and Dublin

In Berlin, around 3,500 people gathered on the esplanade between the Chancellery and the Bundestag at a rally organised by United for Palestine. The demonstration began without disruption, and many placards and banners opposed German arms exports to Israel. The German parliament reports that the government approved export licences for military material worth about 736 million euros to Israel in the second quarter of 2026. A similar demonstration in October 2025 drew about 14,000 people, and police reported physical violence, antisemitic symbols and slogans, and about 30 arrests.

In Dublin, the Irish Times reported a crowd estimated at 10,000 marching from Parnell Square to a rally outside Leinster House. Zoe Lawlor, chairwoman of the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said Taoiseach Micheal Martin had failed Gaza and called for sanctions on Israel. Lawlor criticised the government over student visas, saying the approval rate fell from about 84 per cent in 2025 to 27.5 per cent this year, according to Department of Justice figures.

So this shame is also on the Irish Government, and no amount of grandstanding at the UN will ever take that away

The war behind the marches

The October 7 attack killed 1,221 people according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures, and militants took 251 hostages into Gaza, 44 of whom were already dead. Israel's military offensive has killed more than 74,200 people, according to Gaza's health ministry. A ceasefire began a year ago, but Israel has kept striking Gaza almost daily, with some 1,450 Palestinians killed since the ceasefire according to the same ministry. The Guardian reports that the overall death toll has risen by a further 1,400 in the last year. Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian ambassador to the UK, posted a video from the march on social media.

Three years on, Israel's atrocities in Gaza and the West Bank continue, and so does the solidarity of the British people. Louder, bigger, and not going anywhere. Thank you all

The Guardian describes the London march as the first national march since Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband declared the UK's position that Israel's occupation of the West Bank is unlawful.