PROTESTS in support of Palestine showed no signs of abating nationwide at the weekend with calls for more global pressure on Israel to end its persecution and oppression of the Palestine people.

Thousands marched in London and in towns and cities nationwide including Leeds, Manchester and Hull, demanding an end to the sale of British arms to Israel.

In London former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn addressed more than 8,000 people who marched on Downing Street.

At a protest in Leeds MP and chair of the Socialist Campaign Group of MPs Richard Burgon, who is promoting a parliamentary Bill outlawing the sale of arms to Israel, said words were “not enough” and that global pressure was needed to “force Israel to end its war on the Palestinian people.”

And Palestine Action supporters continued the rooftop occupation which has brought production to a halt at an arms factory in Cheshire. The factory makes parts for drones used by Israel in its brutal attacks on and killings of Palestinians.

In London protesters laid 64 coffins outside 10 Downing Street representing 64 children killed in Israel’s most recent onslaught on Gaza. Each coffin bore the photo of a child victim.

Mr Corbyn praised the tens of thousands who had marched in the United States — including in Chicago, Detroit, Washington and San Francisco — protesting against Israel’s 11-day pounding of Gaza with rockets, bombs and artillery shells.

“I hope they are able to exert that power and influence on the Biden administration and Congress of the US to do what they have not yet done and to recognise the state of Palestine,” he said.

He told the cheering crowd: “Our strength is our numbers. Our strength is our message — and the truth behind our message.”

In Leeds Mr Burgon told the hundreds of rallying Palestine supporters that, while the end of Israel’s attack on Gaza was welcome, it “will not bring an end to the bloodshed, the loss of life, the pain and the suffering” if Israel’s repression of the Palestinian people continued.

Palestine Solidarity Campaign has appealed for support for a national lobby of Parliament on July 8.