A pro-Palestine protester speaks with a PSU Police Officer at the northern edge of London's Trafalgar Square at a moment of tension in the crowd, following several arrests. Photo by Alisdare Hickson. Palestine solidarity protest. London. 15 October 2023. Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA 2.0). This article is written by Josh White, and was originally published in the Battleground. An edited version is republished on Global Voices as part of a content-sharing agreement. It was a protest against the BBC’s coverage of the Sukkot War. A group calling itself Palestine Action claimed responsibility. According to the Palestine Solidarity Campaign’s Ben Jamal, 100,000 people showed up. The police, of course, disputed that, claiming that though they couldn’t be sure, the demonstration was significantly smaller. By the time this reporter arrived, tens of thousands lined the streets from the BBC to Oxford Circus. Right-wingers responded by spinning the demonstrations as ‘celebrations’ of Hamas violence. No placards I saw endorsed Hamas’ atrocities. Following Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who proposed outlawing Palestinian flags on the third day of the war, some rightists are calling for a ban on solidarity protests altogether. For example, neocon writer Douglas Murray has been making the case for the mass deportation of “Hamas supporters.” Not that there are many of them in the United Kingdom, but it’s helpful to tarnish Palestinian solidarity politics this way. It makes British Jews scared. Murray has even suggested that Israel expel Palestinians from Gaza. Then there’s the noise. Much has been made of the chants heard at pro-Palestinian demonstrations in recent years. UK news media often point to the slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” as though it was a call to Antisemitic genocide. To be expected, The Jewish Chronicle reiterated the point in the first paragraph of its feature on the march, and The Guardian felt obligated to mention its use at the protest, too. The bias of the otherwise wholly distinct papers could not be more clear. But it also reflects ignorance of British solidarity politics typical of the country’s mainstream press. Specifically, its preference for transforming Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) into a secular, multiethnic democracy. Of course, that would be threatening to Brexit-era conservatives, nostalgic for empire. That’s why they’re so attached to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As it turned out, “Free, free Palestine!” was the most popular chant on the march. When the demonstrators reached Piccadilly Circus, some young men climbed up the scaffolding of a nearby building. They waved a Palestinian flag from the rooftops above the square. The crowd cheered and applauded. What was so surreal was the scaffolding was covered in a gigantic Dolce & Gabbana advert. The sight of the Palestinian flag being waved above the image of a frivolous male model was a hilarious juxtaposition. One of the marchers produced an Afghan flag and raised it alongside the Palestinian one. Not everyone is impressed. Several Jewish contingents were at the march, from the secular left Jewish Voice for Labour to the Haredi Neturei Karta. The sight of Ultra-Orthodox Jews holding up anti-Zionist signs calling for the end of Israel naturally turned many heads. No demonstration is free of opportunists, of course. Scientologists, not well known for having any Israel politics, somehow rationalised a space for themselves on the march and tried to hand out flyers to the crowd. The usual suspects from different Trotskyist groups were otherwise represented, distributing mass-produced placards and flags. Other demonstrators danced to Arab music. After the massacre of civilians in southern Israel last week, I wasn’t surprised by the broad turnout. The killings were filmed by Hamas and broadcast for the entire world to see. Londoners were shocked by the violence and brutality, and almost everyone found a reason to be there. Eventually, we reached Trafalgar Square, where protesters had climbed up the statue of King Charles II to put a Palestinian flag in his hand. This was the same spot where the king had butchered his father’s executioners. The route from Trafalgar Square to Parliament is just Protestville. No one but the super-rich live here, and most people passing through are tourists. Except on a day when there’s a demo. It was an appropriate course. We had just walked through the streets of London to the old core of British imperialism to protest its legacy in the Middle East. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas are both representatives of this heritage.