London [UK], June 5: Pro-Palestine campaigners have rallied against Israel's punishing war on Gaza, gathering outside the British Parliament in London and demanding a full arms embargo and that hard-hitting sanctions be imposed on the Israeli government.
Wednesday's march, organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), came as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer took weekly questions from parliamentarians.
Thousands of protesters created a "Red Line for Palestine", wearing red while encircling the building.
Starmer told Parliament that Israel's actions in the besieged and bombarded enclave are "appalling" and "intolerable".
"It is right to describe these days as dark," Starmer said. "We have strongly opposed the expansion of Israeli military operations, and settler violence, and the blocking of humanitarian aid."Starmer added that the UK has imposed sanctions, suspended free trade negotiations, and is currently considering further sanctions.
But the UK leader, his Foreign Secretary David Lammy, and his government have come under heavy criticism in the UK for not speaking more forcefully backed by actual action earlier in the war, and for not doing enough now as Palestinians face what United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called the "cruellest phase of this cruel conflict".
Al Jazeera's Rory Challands, reporting from London, said the protest went on for several hours and throughout Starmer's entire speech to Parliament.
"There was a red line around the whole of Parliament," Challands said.
According to Challands, protesters say that their "red line" is to show that the UK government should have its own red lines when it comes to Gaza.
Source: Qatar Tribune
