July 19, 2025 - 7:00pm
Stepping out of Embankment underground station, the relentless beating of drums filled the air. The biblical rain had driven the vanguard of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign beneath Hungerford Bridge, where hundreds had already gathered half an hour before the march was set to begin. Echoes of “Free, Free Palestine” and “Genocide” ricocheted off the orange-lit walls, the charged atmosphere mirroring the protesters’ fierce emotions. With an end to the destruction in Gaza feeling more distant than ever, despair over Palestine was hardening into a growing fury directed at Britain’s political leaders.
As the chants swelled, a young woman told me the “energy was stronger” than at any previous protest. Thousands poured in, joined by a range of Left-wing groups. Caleb, a revolutionary communist, waved a red flag and declared his mission to recruit those eager to overthrow Western governments backing what he called “Zionist Terrorist Imperialism.” But communists weren’t the only ones seeking converts. In Whitehall, a Muslim handed me a free Quran, insisting the devastation in Gaza would “bring people to Islam.”
‘We want to enrage, we want to insult’. Credit: Jack Davey</caption]
As the march wound down, a woman launched a new chant: “We want to enrage, we want to insult. Keir Starmer has got to go.” Around her, a group of students held up placards condemning Foreign Secretary David Lammy, while an elderly protester silently raised a sign accusing Starmer of “War Crimes and Genocide.”
Just a short walk away in Parliament Square, a parallel protest by Palestine Action had drawn a heavy police response. Around 60 activists were arrested for allegedly expressing support for the newly banned group. When I asked one man what he made of the crackdown, he didn’t hesitate. “Keir Starmer is the real terrorist,” he snapped.
The chief lightning rod for the protesters’ fury was a pro-Israel counter-demonstration on the Strand. Outnumbered by police, the small group of counter-protesters blasted pro-Israel songs from a loudspeaker — one of them repeating the line: “If you were in our place, would you do anything different?” They demanded the return of hostages, while their leader, gripping a microphone, shouted insults at the marchers, calling them “Hamas’ boyfriends” and “terrorist supporters frothing at the mouth.”
The volley of abuse was met in kind. One elderly Palestinian protester stood and screamed; others shouted “Shame!” Meanwhile, a woman in a headscarf held a placard with an Israeli flag, each point of the Star of David labelled with: “Steal, Rape, Cry, Kill, Lie, Cheat.” Another sign read: “Palestine — Another Zionist Holocaust.”
Frustration gave way to hardening rhetoric. Credit: Jack Davey</caption]
The standoff might have escalated further were it not for a malfunction in the pro-Israelis’ sound system. For 10 surreal seconds, Elton John’s I’m Still Standing blared across the street, before the MC quickly cut it off and issued an awkward apology. A heavy police presence and a team of stewards kept the two sides physically apart.
As another march moved through central London, the prospect of peace in Gaza felt increasingly remote. What once centered on appeals for compassion now carried a sharper edge, as frustration gave way to hardening rhetoric. On Westminster Bridge, a song drifted from the speakers, its refrain capturing the mood with stark simplicity: “Palestine and Israel are in the same land. We will fight till there is one left.”
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