Maaria Ahmed, a mother of three, joins thousands of protesters in London calling for a ceasefire. Despite initial anxieties, Ahmed describes the march as a peaceful and emotional display of solidarity.
It was in late March when Maaria Ahmed found herself driving down the M1 from Leicester to London to join thousands of others calling for a ceasefire in
“But when I went there it was – I actually feel emotional talking about it – just such a lovely, overwhelming feeling of solidarity, humanity and empathy, which I actually thought had been lost. It was so peaceful,” Ahmed said tearfully. According to one expert, the scale and momentum of the demonstrations is comparable to anti-Iraq war protests in 2003 when an estimated 1.5 million people took part inBen Jamal, the director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign , one of the groups coordinating the marches, said the protests have been “extraordinary” in their impact. One particular flashpoint was the demonstration on 11 November, Armistice Day.
Despite this, Jamal said the demonstrations have continued to attract a “broad alliance” of people with more than 270,000 people subscribed to the PSC’s mailing list in April, in comparison with 60,000 last September. Max Hammer, 22, is one of the hundreds who have formed a ‘Jewish bloc’ – a coalition of Jewish groups that oppose the Netanyahu government– who attend the marches. He said: “Despite the fact that these marches are often sort of labelled as ‘dangerous for Jews’, one of the things that I found really empowering is to be part of the ‘Jewish bloc’ and see how many Jews are actually out on the streets declaring loudly their solidarity with Palestinians. We are always welcomed very, very heartily.
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