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Thousands of anti-war demonstrators on Saturday marched through central London, calling for an immediate halt to US and Israeli military operations against Iran and an end to arms sales to Israel, Anadolu reports.
According to the Manchester Evening News, the protest drew between 5,000 and 6,000 participants, based on estimates from the Metropolitan Police.
The rally began at Millbank near Victoria Tower Gardens at noon and was organized by a coalition of activist groups, including the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), Stop the War Coalition and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
Protesters marched toward the US Embassy carrying placards reading “Stop Trump’s Wars” and “No War on Iran,” while others waved Iranian and Palestinian flags.
Some demonstrators also carried portraits of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
READ: Trump claims Iran ‘surrendered’ to neighbors, warns of further strikes
Organizers described the military strikes as “illegal” and warned that escalating conflict could place millions of civilians at risk across the Middle East.
Chris Nineham, vice-chair of the Stop the War Coalition, said the situation represented one of “the most dangerous global moments in decades.”
“(US President Donald) Trump and (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu are creating murder and mayhem across the Middle East. They are risking spreading war across the Middle East, and they are creating the conditions of volatility and instability around the world, and what is disgraceful is that our government is allowing British bases to be used to promote this mayhem,” Nineham said in a video posted on social media from the protest.
He added that many people in Britain opposed the war and called for a broad and vocal movement to mobilize against the conflict and advocate for peace.
Tensions in the Middle East have escalated since the US and Israel launched a large-scale attack on Iran on Feb. 28, killing more than 1,000 people, including Khamenei and over 150 schoolgirls, and senior military officials.
Iran has retaliated with sweeping barrages of its own that have targeted US bases, diplomatic facilities, and military personnel across the region, as well as multiple Israeli cities.
READ: Rubio tells Arab ministers Iran war could last ‘several more weeks’: Report
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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