Thousands expected at Gaza march (From Droitwich Advertiser)

Thousands expected at Gaza march

6:57pm Friday 9th January 2009

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Activists were planning Britain's biggest ever pro-Palestine demonstration as attacks continued in Gaza in defiance of a United Nations resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire.

Organisers predict more than 100,000 people will join a massive march through central London on Saturday in protest at Israel's attacks on the Gaza Strip.

Celebrities including musician Brian Eno and film star Juliet Stevenson are expected to join in the procession from Hyde Park to the Israeli embassy in Kensington.

Friday's air strikes by Israel's military hit more than 30 targets in Gaza, killing at least one child, while Hamas launched a barrage of rocket attacks on two cities in the Jewish state.

The fresh waves of violence came as the UN called for an independent war crimes investigation into reports that Israeli soldiers shelled a house that they knew contained more than 100 Palestinians.

Fourteen of the 15 members of the UN's security council backed a resolution to stop the conflict, with the US abstaining.

After the vote Foreign Secretary David Miliband urged the international community to "turn the words into changes on the ground".

But there was little sign of this happening as official death tolls since the conflict started on December 27 reached 777 Palestinians and 13 Israelis.

Saturday's march will include rallies at the start and end addressed by speakers including Eno, Stevenson, former London mayor Ken Livingstone and Cherie Blair's half-sister Lauren Booth.

The organisers - principally Stop the War Coalition, the British Muslim Initiative and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign - said they hoped there would be no repeat of the ugly clashes with police that marred a demonstration in London last Saturday.

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