A large group of Youth Demand supporters have blocked Marble Arch to demand a two-way arms embargo on Israel and for the new UK government to halt all new oil and gas licences granted since 2021. [1]
At around 12 pm, Youth Demand supporters began gathering at Russell Square Gardens. All attendees of the march were subject to intimidating body searches by a large group of police on arrival. The Youth Demand supporters heard speeches and engaged in deliberative discussions about the ongoing crisis in Gaza and what to do about it. At around 13:40, the Youth Demand supporters dispersed and marched through central London before reconvening at Marble Arch at around 14:30, where three police vans were waiting. Around 12 police vans and over 70 officers arrived and began arresting people by 14:45. By around 15:20 around seven arrests had been made.
Youth Demand will be taking action in Central London this week to Demand the new Labour Government cease facilitating genocide at home and abroad by stopping all buying and selling of weapons with the Isreali regime, whilst also committing to reverse all oil and gas licences granted in the UK since 2021.
A Youth Demand Spokesperson said:
“We have a new government and despite the victory of Just Stop Oil in achieving its initial demand for the government to halt new oil and gas licences in the UK, it is clear current policies are insufficient to protect citizens in the UK and abroad from the impending climate hell being forced onto us by corporations and the powerful.”
“In addition, despite Labour losing seats in a number of constituencies, as a result of their morally repugnant inability to condemn the war crimes being committed by the Israeli state, Labour are continuing to allow weapons trading with a country that is using British-made equipment to battle-test on toddlers. Babies in Gaza are having to have limbs amputated without anaesthetic, whilst children are buried under rubble right now! Let their screams haunt those in positions of power who are unable to stand up for what’s right. History will brutally condemn those who failed to act on this atrocity.”
One of those taking action this afternoon is Cristy North, a live-in carer from Nottingham, who said:
“I don’t want the status quo. I refuse to do nothing while innocent people are oppressed and murdered. No genocide in my name! Free Palestine!”
Today’s action comes the same week a report was issued in the respected journal ‘The Lancet’, which warns the death toll in Gaza may be significantly higher than the death figures commonly circulated. The authors state that indirect deaths as a result of conflict can equate to far higher numbers than those killed as a direct result of bullets and bombs. The current death tolls of the Gazan genocide do not include missing people who may be lost under rubble for instance. Indirect deaths as a result of conflict can range from three to 15 times the number of direct deaths. Applying a conservative estimate of four indirect deaths per one direct deaths to the 37,396 deaths reported, it is not implausible to estimate that up to 186,000 or even more deaths could be attributable to the current conflict in Gaza. [2]
Young people will not stand by as long as governments are supporting genocide. We deserve better. Young people all over the country are coming together to resist. Youth Demand is taking action in Central London from the 13th-20th July. Join us at https://youthdemand.org.
ENDS
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Notes to Editors
[1] Youth Demand is a youth resistance campaign fighting for an end to genocide. Youth Demand a two-way arms embargo on Israel and an end to new oil and gas drilling. Youth Demand is part of Umbrella and a member of the A22 Network of civil resistance projects.
[2] https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)01169-3/fulltext
