Pro-Palestinian protesters march through York city centre

The demonstrators gathered in St Helen’s Square on Saturday afternoon (May 23) before marching through York city centre holding banners and chanting.

Organiser Chris Brace, from the York Palestine Assembly, said the group had gathered because they are “absolutely appalled” at the government for “failing to live up to its international obligations and simply observe a genocide, ethnic cleansing and displacement of people from their own homes in Palestine”.

He accused leaders of allowing international law to “decay”.

Pro-Palestinian activists in York on Saturday (May 23) (Image: Dylan Connell)

Chris Brace, from the York Palestine Assembly, who helped organise the protest in York on Saturday (May 23) (Image: Dylan Connell)

Gaza has seen near-daily Israeli fire with more than 850 people being killed since a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas went into effect in October, according to Gaza’s health ministry. The ministry is part of Gaza’s Hamas-run government, but staffed by medical professionals who maintain and publish detailed records, viewed as generally reliable by the international community.

The October 7 attacks killed some 1,200 people in Israel and saw more than 250 taken hostage into Gaza.

Israel’s retaliatory strikes have killed more than 72,700 people, according to the Gaza health ministry.

The protest in York on Saturday comes as pro-Palestine campaigners in the UK have said they believe tougher action may be taken to control demonstrations.

It follows concerns about the growing threat to British Jews after the Golders Green stabbing resulted in the UK terror threat being raised to severe.

Professor Mohamed El-Gomati, one of the founders of York Mosque and its spokesperson, marches through York on Saturday (May 23) during the pro-Palestinian demonstration (Image: Dylan Connell)

Pro-Palestinian activists march through York on Saturday (May 23) (Image: Dylan Connell)

However, Professor Mohamed El-Gomati, one of the founders of York Mosque and its spokesperson, said peaceful pro-Palestinian demonstrations must be allowed to continue.

“It’s our freedom of speech,” he said. “It’s our freedom of expression. We have to practice that. And if anybody has done anything wrong, he or she should be tried under the law.

“But we cannot ban peaceful protests like this. Because it’s my freedom, and I’m not doing anything against the laws.”

Pro-Palestinian activists march through York on Saturday (May 23) (Image: Dylan Connell)

Rachael Maskell, MP for York Central, speaks during the pro-Palestinian protest in St Helen’s Square on Saturday (May 23) (Image: Dylan Connell)

York Central MP Rachael Maskell was among those who spoke during the demonstration in St Helen’s Square.

The Labour MP called for “unity, not division”, telling the crowd: “It is right that we don’t trade in arms. It is right that we don’t trade in goods. And it is right that instead, we trade in the language of peace and unity – because that is our future.”

Ms Maskell said the response from leaders to the war in the Middle East felt “too slow”, as she urged the government “step up on the international stage” and to “ensure that the United Nations and also the courts are doing their jobs”.

She also said she would be “pressing on the new prime minister, when they come into office, for a fresh approach, a new direction, a new community, a new leadership to take the world by storm and say it doesn’t have to be this way”.

Ms Maskell said she backed Andy Burnham to replace Keir Starmer as prime minister, telling The Press: “I’ve got great hope that [the next prime minister] will be Andy Burnham. We see the unity he has brought across Manchester and I want to see that across our nation.

“Where he is divisions fall – and that really is the hope I have for the country that I want to build, but also to lead on the world stage.”