Hundreds gathered in Bolton and Preston to highlight the plight of the Palestinians.
Preston City Centre hosted one of the largest Pro-Palestine rallies seen in the region in recent weeks. It came after similar events took place in Blackburn and Manchester over the past ten days.
Crowds converged on the Preston’s flag market before walking through the city centre.
Demonstrators had gathered to highlight the plight of the Palestinians who had suffered immense bombardment from Israeli firepower in the past two weeks.
Ahead of the march Ismail Timol, one of the organisers from the campaigning group Children of the Ghetto said: "What is currently happening in Gaza is nothing short of a genocide, where innocent women and children are being massacred.
"The forced evictions of Palestinians in the Sheikh Jarrah district of East Jerusalem is tantamount to ethnic cleansing. All of the above actions by Israel needs to be condemned in the strongest of terms.”
Naima Adam, organiser and local resident said: "We’ve come together to stand in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza, West Bank and Jerusalem. We want the world to know that we cannot just stay silent when Israel continues to oppress an entire people through various means of aggression.”
In Bolton town centre (above) crowds were outside the Town Hall.
One protester explained why he was there: "Because we are protesting against Israeli occupation.
"To free the Palestine, stop Israelis killing innocent people, women and children.
"Destroying their homes and kicking them out of their homes.”
Another protestor, Ibrahim, said: “We are here to show solidarity for the Palestinians because this has been going on for a very long time.
“These Israelis are coming and bombing them, throwing grenades and these Palestinians have done absolutely nothing wrong, they have been shooting at them and all sorts.
“We are here to show support for these Palestinians because no one deserve to live in such a cruel way these people are living in.
“And all these people, the Palestinians are not getting any justice– they said there was a ceasefire last night but it clearly didn’t last long.”
The 11 nights of cross-border bombardments has led to more than 250 deaths and many more injured, the vast majority of them Palestinian.
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