‘Many more could be killed in the coming days. This violence must end immediately.’

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign’s national demonstration will go ahead this Saturday as a ceasefire deal in Gaza draws nearer. 

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) reported that in the last week the Met police has imposed “repressive restrictions” preventing the group from protesting outside the BBC’s HQ, as previously agreed.

Despite the news of a ceasefire deal on Wednesday, Palestinian authorities reported that Israeli attacks had killed at least 86 Palestinians in the day following the announcement.

In a statement, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) said it shares “the immense relief expressed by Palestinians at the ceasefire agreement that promises to stop the immediate catastrophic loss of life caused by Israel’s genocide in the Gaza Strip”. 

The PSC added that “Despite this agreement, Israel is continuing to kill Palestinians, and its government has not yet endorsed the deal.”

“Many more could be killed in the coming days. This violence must end immediately”, the statement added.

A vote initially planned for Thursday was delayed, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stating his cabinet would not meet until “Hamas accepts all elements of the agreement.”

Israel’s cabinet is expected to convene a meeting today to approve the Gaza ceasefire agreement, with the ceasefire set to take effect on Sunday.

The PSC said that “ending the bombing is only the start” and that Israel’s blockade on Gaza must end to allow humanitarian aid including food and medical supplies to enter. 

The group stressed that the ceasefire must be permanent, and said “we will continue our campaigning until Israel’s system of apartheid is dismantled”. 

On the location of the protest, the PSC statement said that they will assemble on Whitehall at midday on Saturday.

The PSC said it had previously announced that they would assemble outside the BBC “to protest against the pro-Israel bias of its coverage”, something that journalist Owen Jones recently outlined in a report, which they said the BBC has yet to respond to.

The police have said the reason for not allowing the march to take place outside the BBC is that it could cause disruption to a nearby synagogue. 

Commander Adam Slonecki, who is leading the policing operation this weekend, said: “Our role is not to take sides.

“We police without fear or favour and we have taken the decisions we have motivated only by the need to ensure groups can exercise their right to peaceful protest, while also ensuring the wider community can go about their lives without serious disruption.”

Slonecki added: “I know some reporting has suggested that this is a ban on protests outside the BBC in general. This is absolutely not the case.

“We recognise why the PSC want to protest at the BBC and we’ve offered to work with them in considering alternative days of the week to do so, where we could be confident that they wouldn’t cause serious disruption to the lives of those attending the synagogue.”

However, PSC said that last night, they reached “the absurd point of the police announcing that our march would commence at Russell Square – something that we have never expressed any intention of doing”. 

The PSC’s statement said that the Board of Deputies, an organisation that represents British Jews, had advised the police to impose this route.

“We decide where we protest, not pro-Israel organisations. The police have now accepted that they cannot force us to go to Russell Square,” the PSC said. 

They added: “We reiterate our call for the police to lift the repressive restrictions and allow us to march. If they continue to refuse to do so and prevent us from marching, we will be rallying on Whitehall in protest.”

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward

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