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by Berny Torre
STUDENTS will walk out of schools and universities to demand a permanent ceasefire in Gaza today.
Rallies will be held in London, Manchester and Bristol with former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn MP, rapper and activist Lowkey, and campaigners from various organisations giving speeches in the capital.
Students will also deliver letters to their city and town halls with their demand as part of the School Strike for Palestine (SSP) demonstrations.
A spokesman for SSP said: “As the situation in Gaza intensifies, we are deeply concerned our leaders are gravely failing a vulnerable and disempowered population by enabling a deliberately disproportionate attack, resulting in collective punishment and a devastating loss of life.
“Behind each of the numbers killed is the name of an innocent child. A child who had their whole lives ahead of them. A child who had a right to a future.
“We want our children to grow up respecting each other’s rights, and standing up for those whose rights are being denied. Humanity must come first, all else second.”
Stop the War Coalition (StWC) officer Shabbir Lakha said: “Not only is our government supporting the mass killing of Palestinians, a large proportion of them children, but it has instructed British schools to clamp down on any discussion or solidarity with the Palestinian people.
“It is an outrageous attack on our democratic rights and civil liberties. We applaud the young people up and down the country taking a stand and making their voices heard.”
Yesterday StWC vice-chair Chris Nineham warned MPs that attempts by the prime minster, a former home secretary and the police to stop the national march for Palestine taking place in London on November 11 were “dangerous days for democracy.”
Mr Nineham told the home affairs committee session on the policing of protests about how the Metropolitan Police put “enormous pressure” on the march organisers to call the demonstration off, without giving any practical reason for doing so.
He said: “It was obvious that this was as a result of meetings they had had with Suella Braverman and Rishi Sunak, who publicly said the demo should not happen.
“Although to their credit the police did defy Braverman and Sunak, they did that because we held the line, and I’m very proud that we did, because we took a stand for democracy.”
