75 images Created 20 Jan 2025
Ceasefire Now demo - 18.01.2025
On the day before the beginning of the ceasefire in Gaza tens of thousands of pro-Palestine people protested against the ongoing war in Gaza and Israel’s involvement in the West Bank and the continued arming of Israel by the British Government on the 18th of January 2025, Central London, United Kingdom. The police had reneged on a previous arrangement for the protest to march from the BBC HQ to Whitehall under the pretext of safety concerns for a nearby synagogue to the BBC HQ and had only allowed the protest to be a standing demonstration in Whitehall. More than 20 pro-Palestine marches have taken place the past 15 months of war without any trouble and hardly any policing needed. This demonstration, the day before the ceasefire began, saw an unprecedented number of police deployed and the demonstration ended with hundreds of people stuck in Trafalgar Square after police let them leave Whitehall through a ‘filtered cordon’ and enter the square. A large number of peaceful demonstrators were arrested, some violently, including Chris Nineham of the Stop the War Coalition. A number of peaceful protesters were kettled within the square and all were arrested.