Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters, many of them university students, gathered in several U.K. cities on Tuesday, despite a plea from Prime Minister Keir Starmer to call off the marches, which he described as "un-British" for taking place on the second anniversary of the Hamas-led attacks on Israel.
On the campus of King's College London, Palestinian flags waved as organizers on megaphones led the crowd of a few hundred through several chants. They demanded a free Palestine and denounced Israel as a terrorist state.
A few dozen police officers looked on, along with students taking an afternoon break from classes.
"I think all these people have plenty of reasons to protest. Telling someone to not fight for what they believe in is silly," said Vincent Ge, a second-year computer scienc