Gaza ceasefire now!

by New Worker correspondent

London comrades joined hundreds of thousands of protesters who marched through the heart of the capital on Saturday 11 November to demand a halt to the savage Israeli onslaught on Gaza. Some comrades took the NCP banner to the start of the demonstration at Marble Arch in Mayfair. Others joined it in Victoria as it proceeded to the American embassy across the Thames at Nine Elms.
The organisers reckon over 800,000 people took part in last weekend’s protest. Others say it was easily over a million-strong. Nobody knows. But what we can say for certain is that the three-mile march through London was clearly the biggest since the Gulf War protests in 2003. 
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign and the others in the consortium that organised the protest that included the Stop the War movement, CND and the Muslim Association of Britain had agreed the three mile route with the police to avoid any possible clashes with racist gangs who were gathering in Whitehall to “defend” the Cenotaph on Armistice Day.
Reactionary politicians had called for the march to be banned while Home Secretary “Cruella” Braverman stoked the flames of Islamophobia by calling it a “hate march” and accusing the police of “playing favourites” with pro-Palestinian protesters while targeting the far-right. But on the day the only clashes were between the “football lads” and the police around the Cenotaph.
Nine officers were injured trying to stop the racist mob getting to the Cenotaph and many detained on breaches of the peace charges or possession of Class A drugs.
Ms Braverman who thinks she’s the darling of the right of the Tory party clearly sees herself as a future Tory leader – and that’s no doubt why Rishi Sunak sacked her on Monday.
“There is no doubt that the violent fascist and  far right thugs out on the streets in London on Saturday were emboldened by Suella Braverman’s reckless and racist interventions last week,” says Sabby Dhalu, the Co-Convenor of the Stand up to Racism campaign. “That’s why she was sacked. Braverman will forever be remembered as the Home Secretary that built the far right. However her sacking will not solve the problem of “stop the boats” racism – that has built the far right. These groups have been demonstrating consistently since Rishi Sunak has been Prime Minister, for which he is responsible”.