UK Protesters Blast Israeli Gaza Blockade

Source: PressTV

Britain has witnessed major anti-Israel demonstrations, as several hundred pro-Palestinian protesters rallied in front of the Israeli embassy in London.

The demonstrators condemned the deadly Israeli offensive and continued Israeli siege of the impoverished Gaza Strip, demanding an end to the 'inhuman' blockade.

"We continue to be outraged at the attacks on Gaza and the crimes against humanity that was committed there," Glen Secker from Jews for Justice for Palestinians said on Sunday.

The protesters who chanted "end the siege now", also held banners naming Saudi King Abdullah, Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak as accomplices in the massacre of Gazans.

A group of UK parliamentarians also took part in the protests, voicing concern for the Gaza siege.

"The Israeli ambassador to London has demanded that our law should be changed. But I should point out that it is not for him to demand how we should change our law," Labor MP Martin Linton told Press TV.

Linton was pointing to a recent arrest warrant issued for former Israeli Prime minister Tzipi Livni in the British court system.

The warrant was hastily withdrawn after an extraordinary intervention from the Foreign Office and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown himself.

Pro-Gaza protests were also staged in over a dozen other cities across Britain this week, amid tight security.

The latest development comes as the Viva Palestina convoy made its way to the blockaded strip, despite hindrances.

The third international convoy, which departed from London on December 5, is made up of international volunteers who have raised hundreds of thousands of pounds in their local communities to pay for ambulances, minibuses, vans, and lorries to fill them with medical and other aid that is desperately needed in Gaza.

The Viva Palestina convoy was organized to direct the world's attention to the fact that Israeli war criminals committed horrendous crimes in Gaza as well as to the courageous Palestinian resistance.

Israel's three-week offensive against Gaza in December 2008 and January 2009 left more than 1,400 Palestinians dead, more than half of them civilians, according to medical sources.

The Israeli assault also led to the destruction of schools, mosques, houses as well as UN compounds, inflicting $1.6 billion damage on the Gaza economy.