Hundreds of students across the country have attended pro-Palestinian marches on the anniversary of the 7 October attacks in Israel, despite calls from prime minister Keir Starmer to stay away.

Writing in , Starmer had urged students to avoid taking part in protests two years on from the day when more than 1,200 Israelis were killed by Hamas. 

He said it was “un-British to have so little respect for others, and that’s before some of them decide to start chanting hatred towards Jewish people all over again”.

Protests have occurred in London, Sheffield, Strathclyde, Glasgow and Edinburgh, with hundreds of students in attendance. 

̽����Ƶ

In London, students from across London’s universities gathered outside King’s College London’s Strand campus, before walking to UCL and the London School of Economics, and ending at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).

There was a heavy police presence, with more than 10 police vans monitoring the protest, with some students saying they were “shocked” by the “quite excessive” response, given the size of the protest.

̽����Ƶ

Police told ̽����Ƶ that they estimated about 200 students were part of the rally, with more expected to join as protesters walked towards SOAS.

One second-year student, who said that they had just come to watch the protest and were not planning on partaking in the rally, said that it felt “distasteful” to conduct the protest on the anniversary of the 7 October attack.

“We’re not superkeen on them doing it today of all days. We think it’s incredibly distasteful,” they said. Another said that they had been “alerted” to the protest after noticing a series of police vans parked outside the university.

Organisers told the crowd that “we want all of Palestine to see this today” to show the unity of the “global student intifada”, and protesters held a banner with the names of Palestinians who have died during the bombardment, where the death toll now stands at over 67,000 people.

̽����Ƶ

Many students said they were undeterred by Starmer’s comments, with one third-year student stating the prime minister had “blood on his hands” and the government did not have the power to dissuade students who were unsatisfied with the government’s response to the crisis in the Middle East.

“You cannot shut this down. No one can shut this down, because while the bombing continues, students will continue to oppose the bombing [in Gaza],” they said.

Tensions arose between some involved in the rally and some at anti-protests, who said “some have more taste than to demonstrate today”. 

The Union for Jewish Students said in a statement that while it “respects the right to protest”, “there are 365 days in a year, and on one of them – 7 October – Jewish students seek the space to mourn their loved ones”.

̽����Ƶ

juliette.rowsell@timeshighereducation.com