Palestine protests live: Starmer hits out at ‘un-British’ demonstration to take place on October 7 anniversary

On the second anniversary of the October 7 attacks, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said “the same hatred that fuelled those barbaric attacks still festers today”.

She said in a statement: “Israel, the world’s only Jewish state, has faced hatred, war and terror since the day it was founded. And yet, it has stood strong. A beacon of democracy and resilience in the Middle East.

“But two years on from the horrific massacre on October 7, we must also be honest: the same hatred that fuelled those barbaric attacks still festers today.

“We see it in the so-called ‘protests’ that turn into hate marches on our streets. We hear it in chants calling to ‘globalise the intifada’. And we saw it again, tragically, in the appalling terrorist attack on our Jewish community right here in Manchester just last week.”

She added: “It is shameful that in recognising Palestine as a state, the Government has rewarded the terrorists that perpetrated the 7th October atrocities.

“Appeasement does not work. There are still 48 hostages held captive in Gaza. They must come home now.”

University students from several institutions are expected to gather at an event in London on Tuesday, two years to the day since some 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage during Hamas’s incursion into Israel.

Details of the demonstration in the capital are posted online and include groups from King’s College London, the London School of Economics, University College London, SOAS and Roehampton University.

Other events are set to take place outside of London, including protests at Strathclyde University, Edinburgh University and the University of Leeds.

On Tuesday morning, Roehampton Palestine Society reposted details of the London event.

A post on the Instagram page for King’s College London Students for Justice for Palestine said on Monday evening it was “incumbent upon every student at KCL to be there to show solidarity” at the walkout from classes scheduled at 2pm.

Thousands of students are expected to attend rallies on Tuesday on the second anniversary of the atrocity in which 1,200 people were killed.

Writing in The Times, Sir Keir described protests set to take place at universities on Tuesday as “un-British”, claiming they show a lack of respect for others.

He added that the pro-Palestine protests have been used by some as a “despicable excuse to attack British Jews”.

Sir Keir wrote in the newspaper: “Today, on the anniversary of the atrocities of October 7, students are once again planning protests.

“This is not who we are as a country. It’s un-British to have so little respect for others. And that’s before some of them decide to start chanting hatred towards Jewish people all over again.”