Tens of thousands march through London calling for Gaza ceasefire

Thousands of people rallied for a large march in the heart of London to demand an immediate halt to the conflict in Gaza, reports BBC.

The march, put together by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), travelled from Hyde Park Corner all the way to the US Embassy in Nine Elms.

This event marked the 10th pro-Palestinian rally in central London since the onset of Israel's operations in Gaza, triggered by Hamas's 7 October assaults on Israel.

Singer Charlotte Church was prominently seen leading the march as it commenced.

The Welsh singer, who has been a vocal campaigner, said she had joined to "show solidarity" with Palestinians "for all that they are suffering through".

During the course of the event, Metropolitan Police officers arrested four people on suspicion of public order offences, including for chanting offensive slogans or holding an offensive placard, while one man was arrested for assault.

A further man was also arrested for assault "during an altercation between protesters and counter-protesters in order to prevent a breach of the peace" but he was later de-arrested, the Met added.

It said there had been no "significant public order disturbance" at any protest on Saturday.

The march came after the government's counter-extremism commissioner this week said London had become a "no-go zone for Jews" at the weekends during the demonstrations.

And earlier, Mark Gardner, who leads the Community Security Trust which provides security for the Jewish community, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme some Jewish people were choosing to avoid central London because of the demonstrations.

He said: "Again and again just people saying 'I'm not going into town at the weekend because of these demonstrations... I don't want the risk that they realise I'm Jewish and start shouting abuse at me'."

But march organiser Ben Jamal called the no-go zone comments "disgraceful".

"The reality is, you will see these are people from all walks of life from many backgrounds who here marching for peace, and as the police themselves admit these marches are overwhelmingly peaceful," he added.

Church, who was among an all-female line-up of speakers at the rally, to mark International Women's Day, said: "There's been singing there's been drumming, yes, there's been emotion, but in the majority that emotion has been love, has been compassion because that's why we're all here."

Also at the march was former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who now sits as an independent MP.

He told PA News Agency the demonstration was "enormous and we're here because we're appalled at the bombing that's still going on in Gaza".

Israel's military launched an air and ground campaign in the Gaza Strip after Hamas's deadly attacks on Israel on 7 October, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 253 others were taken hostage.

More than 30,800 people have been killed in Gaza since then, the territory's Hamas-run health ministry says.

The conflict has created a growing humanitarian crisis in the territory and the UN has warned that famine in Gaza is "almost inevitable".

At least 576,000 people across the Gaza Strip - one quarter of the population - are facing catastrophic levels of food insecurity and one in six children under the age of two in the north are suffering from acute malnutrition, a senior UN aid official warned last week.