London's Pro-Palestine Demonstrators Spent Saturday Shouting at Stores

There was another demonstration showing solidarity with Gaza in London on Saturday. It was probably one of the biggest yet. The police estimated that 20,000 marched from the BBC headquarters on Portland Place to Hyde Park. Confusingly, the organizers put the figure at 150,000. Whatever the exact numbers, it was pretty big.

As well as the usual chanting, flag waving, and speeches that come with these sorts of large demos, there was a bit of direct action at the end. After the speeches finished in Hyde Park and everyone was slowly heading home, about a hundred of the protesters set off down Oxford Street.

I ran into them outside of McDonald's on the corner of Edgware Road, where they were shouting, “Boycott, boycott!” and generally getting in the way of the main entrance, preventing any passersby from getting inside for a cheese burger or anyone inside from getting out. I asked a few people why McDonald's should be boycotted, but the responses I got were a bit vague. Someone said that it was because McDonald's is an American company and America supports Israel. The fast-food giant released a statement a few days ago distancing itself from what’s happening in Gaza after some of its Malaysian outlets were targeted by boycotters.

From the McDonald's, the protesters set off down Oxford Street shouting at branches of other shops they accused of backing Israel. The police were very quickly on hand, setting up a cordon between the crowd and the shops at every stop the protesters made. Police liaison officers in calming light blue bibs asked the protesters not to get too rowdy, and the protesters generally abided by that. No one actually got into any of the shops to cause any trouble—I don’t think they were trying to—preferring to stand outside shouting angry things, or lie down pretending to be dead to evoke what's happening in Gaza.

Earlier in the day, members of London Palestine Action (the guys who occupied the arms factory last week) briefly occupied several branches of Barclays, which they said invests in the arms trade.

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Keep up with what's happening in Gaza with the VICE News series Rockets and Revenge.