OVER 10,000 people marched in central London in solidarity with Palestine on Saturday, marking the 74th anniversary of the Nakba, or “catastrophe,” when the establishment of Israel saw 750,000 Palestinians expelled from their homes.

Marchers mourned journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed by the Israeli military last Wednesday while reporting on a raid on a West Bank home in occupied Palestine. Labour MP John McDonnell told crowds it was essential that her “killers are brought to justice.”

Palestine Solidarity Campaign director Ben Jamal said Palestinians should see that there were people in Britain prepared to “march, protest and boycott in solidarity with their struggle for liberation.”

The government is seeking to bring in an “anti-BDS” Bill that would outlaw boycotts that “undermine community cohesion,” understood to be a manoeuvre to ban actions in solidarity with Palestinians.

Stop the War Coalition vice-president Andrew Murray said the killing of Ms Abu Akleh and the subsequent attack by Israeli police on her funeral cortege showed the world that Israel “is a colonial settler regime that can survive only by violence.”

He called on the left to confront “British politicians – Boris Johnson, but also Keir Starmer – who write blank cheques for the Israeli regime.”

David Rosenberg of the Jewish Socialists Group drew attention to the ban on vigils for Ms Abu Akleh imposed by the German government, including one by Jewish Voice for Peace and Justice.

“The claims that the bans were to prevent anti-semitism are a terrible slander against everyone who stands up against racism and for justice and human rights for Palestinians,” he said. “And they were exposed as a complete lie when the ban also prevented Jews from freely expressing their friendship and solidarity with Palestinians.”