HUNDREDS of thousands of protesters across Britain joined campaigners around the world to march for peace and in solidarity with the people of Palestine.

More than 30 protests were organised the length and breadth of the country, from Plymouth to Dumfries, to demand an end to the British arms exports fuelling the Israeli war machine and for a just peace.

Students at the London School of Economics (LSE) who had occupied a portion of the campus to demand the institution cut its ties with Israel were served with a court order to vacate.

In a call for support to maintain their action, LSE Liberated Zone stated: “The LSE has proven it would prefer to criminalise its own students peacefully protesting the university’s complicity in war crimes and genocide than divest.”

In Scotland, a national march for Palestine in Glasgow, backed by RMT, PCS, FBU UCU and EIS as well as long-term supporters of the boycott divest and sanction movement, the STUC, attracted more than 5,000 to the cause of Palestinian solidarity.

STUC deputy general secretary Linda Somerville praised “inspiring actions” on campuses such as LSE around the world.

She said: “The movement we see before us today has occupied towns and cities, across the globe, from the Brooklyn Bridge to Queen Street Station, the movement that has given Ireland, Spain, and Norway the confidence to recognise the state of Palestine.

“Each action you take makes a difference.

“We call on politicians to step up, stand up to speak up for Palestine, and as always, we stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people and call for a ceasefire now!”

British-Gazan medic and newly elected rector of Glasgow University Dr Ghassan Abu Sitta said: “Those who do not find the murder of 16,000 children reason enough to stand up against the leaderships of their parties, those who do not find the murder of 35,000 civilians reason enough to endanger their political career, should not be allowed to hold public office.

“They will not fight to end child poverty in this country when they do not care about the lives of Palestinian children, they will not fight to end austerity in this country when they put the rights of arms manufacturers before the rights of the Palestinian people to live.

“Any politician who stood on the wrong side of history should have their political careers ended on July 4.”