Four Youth Demand supporters have blocked Cisco’s float at London Pride to expose the US based company’s involvement in the Israeli genocide of the Palestinian people. They are demanding that the UK government impose a total trade embargo on Israel and prosecute the corporate enablers of the genocide like Cisco for violations of international law. [1]
At around 12:30pm, four Youth Demand supporters threw red paint over the Cisco float as it passed along Piccadilly, before sitting down in the road and gluing themselves to it, chanting “we charge you with genocide”. The Parade was delayed for about an hour while the group were removed. There were five arrests.
One of those taking action today is today is Reya Wood, 22, a student from Swansea who said:
“I am taking action against Cisco at London Pride to highlight the company’s complicity in genocide and how they are hiding their crimes behind a veil of pink washing. As a queer woman, this action is particularly meaningful to me. I refuse to stand aside and allow my queer identity to be exploited for commercial gain at the hands of war criminals.”
Also taking action is Monday-Malachi Rosenfeld, 22, a student from London who said:
“I’m taking action because queer liberation and Palestinian liberation go hand in hand, and we cannot have one without the other. There can be no celebration or joy when companies like Cisco are supplying technology that is helping Israel to slaughter, displace and starve queer Palestinians, their families and tens of thousands of others in Gaza. London Pride has no business accepting sponsorship from companies profiting from genocide, who pretend to care about queer people. The UK government needs to impose a total trade embargo on Israel and prosecute Cisco for enabling genocide.”
Today’s actions come against a backdrop of ongoing atrocities in Gaza. Since dawn today, Israel has killed another 42 Palestinians as they directed shells at schools and displaced people in tents, aimed airstrikes at private houses and shot people waiting for food. [2]
As one of the main providers of networking hardware for the Israeli military, Cisco is potentially implicated in the mass killing of tens of thousands of Palestinians, many of them unarmed civilians. Cisco, a US-based digital communications company also provides technologies to the Israeli police and prisons, and to illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory. Cisco’s networking, hardware, and servers form the backbone of the Israeli military’s surveillance and communications infrastructure which is used to track movements, map family connections, and facilitate mass surveillance and targeting of Palestinians for assasination. [3] [4]
This week the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Francesca Albanese presented her latest report From economy of occupation to economy of genocidewhich presents detailed research revealing the complicity of private entities in international crimes connected to Israel’s genocide in Gaza and the unlawful occupation across the Occupied Palestinian Territory. In particular it names tech companies including Microsoft, Alphabet and Palatir. The report states ” While political leaders and governments shirk their obligations, far too many corporate entities have profited from Israel’s economy of illegal occupation, apartheid and now, genocide. The complicity exposed by this report is just the tip of the iceberg; ending it will not happen without holding the private sector accountable, including its executives”. [5]
Israel has persistently denied that its political leaders or military have committed war crimes during its assault on Gaza, in which it has killed at least 57,000 people, most of them civilians. The UK continues to support genocide by supplying arms, whilst conducting more surveillance flights on behalf of Israel over Gaza than any other country. [6]
Young people will not accept these crimes against humanity and we will not be led by war criminals and arsonists. We cannot allow those in power to get away with facilitating the systematic annihilation of an entire culture. It’s time to take to the streets day after day and to demand better. Only sustained mass resistance can put an end to this genocide. Sign up to take action at youthdemand.org.
ENDS
Picture credits: Will Colbourne
Youth Demand Press contact: 07762 987334
Press email: YouthDemandPress@protonmail.com
High quality images & video here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/13vFus2e8TEI_bfhIYHXEIV-IZV86P9v9
Website: https://youthdemand.org
Twitter: https://x.com/youth_demand
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_youthdemand
Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@youth.demand
Notes to Editors
[1] Youth Demand is a youth-led resistance campaign fighting for an end to genocide in Palestine and across the globe as a result of the climate crisis.
Our demands:
Stop all trade with Israel:the UK government must impose a total trade embargo on Israel.
Make the rich pay: the UK government must raise £1tn by 2030 from the super rich and fossil fuel elite to pay damages to communities and countries most harmed by fossil fuel burning.
Youth Demand is part of Umbrella and a member of the A22 Network of civil resistance projects.
[3] https://investigate.info/company/cisco-systems
[4] https://www.972mag.com/lavender-ai-israeli-army-gaza/
[6] https://aoav.org.uk/2025/raf-surveillance-flights-over-gaza-reach-577-aoav-update/
