Thousands of protesters march for Palestine in Edinburgh
As the anniversary of the October 7 attacks approaches, demonstrators took part in a silent march
Thousands of people in Edinburgh have joined a march for Palestine, ahead of the one year anniversary of the October 7 attacks in Israel.
The event, organised by Scottish Friends of Palestine and the Gaza Genocide Emergency Committee, was a silent march to commemorate the civilians killed in the region so far.
Demonstrators carried a banner bearing the names of health care workers in Gaza who have been killed in the last 12 months.
Organisers called for a ceasefire and for the UK and Scottish governments to impose sanctions on Israel after a recent Oxfam report said 11,000 children have been killed in Gaza - more than any conflict in 18 years, based on UN data.
Support was also shown for the one million people who were forced to flee southern Lebanon following the Israeli invasion and air strikes, according to Oxfam statistics.
Haris, from No Pride in Genocide, told Forth 1 he did not expect to still be attending rallies a year after October 7.
He said: “I’ve been coming to these protests since October last year, and I didn’t think we would still be here a year later, only for it to be escalating more and more.
“It’s the exact same thing that we’ve seen in Gaza, they’re attacking hospitals.
“There was a list of all the innocent people that have died, and that list is just getting bigger and bigger.
“I think it’s really important that we all do everything we can to put as much pressure on our government, and locally supporting the boycott, divestment, and sanction movement against Israel to stop.”
Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign’s Mick Napier says “it’s difficult to find words” as this most recent conflict approaches its one year anniversary.
He said: “If this had been the subject of a novel, and the novelist sent it to their editor, the editor would return it and say you’ll never get away with this, it couldn’t possibly happen, but it has happened, it’s just unspeakable.”
Mr Napier added he had “never been so frightened”, as the conflict expands into Lebanon, continuing: “we just have to keep on doing something.
“If we don’t do anything and we know what’s happening, we’d be diminished.”
He joined calls for international support for Israel to be withdrawn, saying he would like political leaders “to stop arming Israel, to refuse to meet Israeli diplomats, to recognise the Palestinian internationally protected right to protect their disposition.”
It comes as the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) urges any British nationals remaining in Lebanon to register their presence on the government website, to be included in evacuation efforts.