Attendance reported 100,000 - 300,000

The march was already well underway by the time I had managed to penetrate outer London’s unusually heavy Saturday traffic, & to be quite frank I felt quite unprepared, due to not having researched the route or destination beforehand, putting me at a significant disadvantage. When considering the volume of attendees, it didn’t surprise me in the traditional sense, but in the wake of a culture of isolation, this was the most people I had seen gathered since the recent Notting Hill Carnival. The mood here was both one of horror & of unexpected strength in the face of adversity. Many seem comforted, if even slightly reinvigorated by the arrival of so many comrades to the same cause. The attendees varied greatly in age, & other pointless metrics but to say there wasn’t a range of people present would be untrue. There was a significant presence under the banner of Islam, as well as many groups of Jews against Zionism & the current war crimes being committed by the Israeli government in response to the Hamas terror attacks.

The weather began fair but later became overcast, promising rain. This didn’t stop many younger protestors earlier in the march from climbing various embankments, buildings, bus stops, & other structures with Palestinian & Lebanese flags. These seemed to be the preferred positions for leading chants & raising flags to signify the strength of their feelings towards the lives of those lost. As we approached the Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain a group of youths climbed the statue with flags & banners, & carefully scaled the structure. The rain began to fall very heavily, & umbrellas erupted across the crowd, with those without darting for the nearby Picadilly Circus tube station. After what seemed like seconds, the climbers cautiously descended from their positions, taking their flags & banners with them, & made for cover. The intensity of the rain increased, causing a small cascade of water to run down into Picadilly Station. The atrium was already completely full of people, but others continued to join from the array of entrances. The TFL guards began to force the metal barriers closed, preventing additional bodies from joining the mass, with the usual suspects protesting & jostling. Having not moved forward for some time, I noticed that arrivals at the station were being allowed to leave through some sort of escape corridor carved through the throngs. The cascade had ceased to flow & I figured this was the time to find a more appealing station.

The rain had effectively dispersed the march, with pockets of protestors making their way home or continuing onwards towards their original goal, Downing Street. I chose to make my way back towards my car via Marble Arch & captured some of the remaining stalls & placards at the site of the pre-march speeches. Throughout the protests, there hadn’t seemed to be a whisper of anti-social or anti-semitic behaviour, with a vast percentage of the protestors being children.

The most common banners included “End genocide”, “Cease fire now”, & “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”.