LONDON: Tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched through central London on Saturday, urging Britain to take a tougher line against Israel over its military assault on Gaza.

The Palestinian Solidarity Campaign said 150,000 people attended the march, the third major demonstration for Gaza in London in the past four weeks.

Protesters packed the main shopping artery of Oxford Street, marching to the US embassy and on to Hyde Park, many of them chanting “Free, Free Palestine” and holding up banners saying “UK — Stop Arming Israel”.

Know more: View of worldwide protests against Gaza assault

The first two protests attr­a­c­ted at least 10,000 people each, according to police, although organisers said it was more like 50,000 each time. Police declined to give a number for Saturday’s event.

Lindsey German, convenor of the Stop the War Coalition, an umbrella group of NGOs, said: “The level of anger is unprecedented.

“The British government has remained silent whilst Israeli aerial bombardment and a ground incursion in Gaza has killed thousands.

“We are calling for an end to the massacre and the recall of the UK parliament. Our government must be forced to end its support for Israel’s siege of Gaza.”

There were also fresh protests in Paris, which has seen several demonstrations related to the war in recent weeks. Several thousand people took part in the march, calling for the end of Israeli aggression, with a heavy police presence in place to prevent the violence seen at earlier protests.

Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2014