Thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators are marching through central London today, despite a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas being implemented.

This marks the 32nd national demonstration in favor of Palestine since October 2023, organized by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC). Protesters began their march from Embankment at noon, culminating in a rally at Whitehall.

Organisers are expected to call for the ceasefire, which was announced by US President Donald Trump, to become a permanent agreement.

A counter protest organised by Stop The Hate is taking place at the junction of Aldwych and the Strand.

Restrictions have been placed on both demonstrations by the Met Police, which outlined designated areas for gathering and specified routes for the march.

PSC director Ben Jamal stated that pro-Palestine protests will occur less often if the ceasefire is maintained. However, he argues that it is ‘not a sustainable solution for ending decades of apartheid’ in Gaza.

‘We share the huge relief of Palestinians that a ceasefire is now taking effect,’ he said.

‘However, we also know that Israel has violated every ceasefire agreement it has ever signed.

‘Over the past two years, we have witnessed Israel’s live-streamed genocide in Gaza, resulting in the deaths of at least 67,000 Palestinians, including 20,000 children. Meanwhile, our governments, both Conservative and Labour, have continued to provide arms and political backing to Israel.’

‘We will keep protesting and campaigning all over the UK to end the complicity of our government, public bodies and corporations with Israel’s crimes under international law.’

But campaigners against anti-Semitism have argued that protests should no longer go ahead as they have no legitimate aim. 

On Saturday thousands of pro-Palestine protesters gathered along Victoria Embankment to the sound of drums, ahead of a demonstration to mark two years of the war in Gaza.

Stalls were selling keffiyehs and outside Embankment station people were handing out placards that said ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’, ‘it’s not a crime to act against genocide’ and ‘Starmer has blood on his hands, free Palestine’.

Around lunchtime, police ushered away multiple people carrying placards that said ‘we stand with Britain’s Jews’, taking them out of the crowd of pro-Palestine protesters.

Shouts of ‘shame’ and ‘free Palestine’ came loudly from the pro-Palestine crowd gathered along Victoria Embankment, which at that point numbered in the tens of thousands.

Announcing plans for its policing this weekend, the Met made reference to recent Government proposals to give police greater powers to restrict repeat protests but said that ‘at this time, the law remains unchanged’.

The measures announced last weekend follow frequent pro-Palestinian demonstrations, including in London and Manchester last Saturday.

The Met said 492 people were arrested at last week’s protest in Trafalgar Square, with the majority on suspicion of supporting the banned terror organisation Palestine Action.

Calls for restraint had been made following the terror attack on a synagogue in Manchester on October 2 in which two people were killed, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer urging protesters to ‘respect the grief of British Jews’.

It followed scuffles between police and pro-Palestine protesters on the evening of the attack after supporters of a flotilla headed to Gaza gathered in Whitehall.

Melvin Cravitz, 66, and Adrian Daulby, 53, were killed following the attack outside Heaton Park Congregation Synagogue in Crumpsall, Manchester on October 2, carried out by Islamic extremist Jihad Al-Shamie.

Greater Manchester Police said that one of the deceased men was shot by officers, adding a second victim sustained a non-life threatening gunshot wound.

In the wake of the attack, the Met had also urged organisers to call off the plans, with Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley saying policing the protest would mean drawing officers away from communities ‘at a time when they are needed most’.

The demonstration in support of Palestine Action went ahead, with human rights campaigner Sir Jonathon Porritt saying protesters should not be asked to ‘give up on our right to stand up for those who are being devastated by an ongoing, real-time genocide in Gaza’.

On Thursday, around 2,000 protesters gathered outside Downing Street to mark a week since the synagogue attack.

At the protest, Gideon Falter, chief executive of the Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: ‘This is a Jewish community that has clamoured for two years in the face of mounting hate.’

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has said repeated large-scale protests had caused ‘considerable fear’ for the Jewish community.

Ben Jamal, PSC director, said the group will ‘never stop’ supporting Palestinians to ‘achieve a free Palestine’.

Of the planned protest this weekend, he said: ‘For two years we’ve seen Israel commit a no holds barred genocide with the political and military support of successive UK governments.

‘In response, a community of resistance in this country has responded with an historic show of solidarity – actively and intensively campaigning, day in day out, to demand politicians, public bodies and corporations end their complicity with Israel’s crimes.

‘This is a movement supported by millions of people in this country and around the world who want freedom and justice for Palestine.

‘That work will go on. Because we know Israel is capable of breaking the ceasefire at any time, as it has done on every previous occasion. And we know this ceasefire based on (US President Donald) Trump’s plan does nothing to address the root causes of Israeli occupation and colonisation of Palestine, and its system of apartheid against Palestinians. It also does nothing to hold those responsible for genocide to account.

‘The rights of the Palestinian people are enshrined under international law – they are inviolable and non-negotiable. They will never give up those rights, and we will never stop supporting them to achieve a free Palestine.’

The Israeli military said on Friday that the ceasefire agreement came into effect at noon local time (10am BST).

The pause in the two-year war in the Middle East follows Hamas agreeing to release the remaining hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

News of the ceasefire agreement came just two days after the second anniversary of October 7, the attacks by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel.