On October 7, 2025, the streets and campuses of the United Kingdom pulsed with the energy of protest, as hundreds—if not thousands—of pro-Palestinian demonstrators defied a direct plea from Prime Minister Keir Starmer to call off their rallies. The date marked the second anniversary of the Hamas-led attacks on Israel, a day that has become a flashpoint for both grief and political activism across the country. Despite Starmer's warnings that such public demonstrations were "un-British" and disrespectful, students and activists from London to Sheffield, Glasgow to Manchester, gathered to make their voices heard.
The protests unfolded against a backdrop of deepening sorrow and mounting tension. The original attacks on October 7, 2023, left 1,200 dead and more than 250 hostages taken, according to Israeli officials, as reported by AFP. In the two years since, the war in Gaza has exacted a devastating toll: the Gaza health ministry, whose figures are regarded as reliable by the United Nations, puts the Palestinian death count at over 67,000. The conflict has left scars on both sides and ignited passionate debate within the UK about the meaning of solidarity, protest, and national identity.
At the heart of the controversy were the Prime Minister's remarks, published in The Times on October 6. Starmer argued that it was "un-British to have so little respect for others," and that the planned rallies risked becoming "a despicable excuse to attack British Jews for something over which they have absolutely no responsibility." He lamented what he described as "a total loss of empathy and humanity," and warned of a "day-to-day acceptance of antisemitism" that, in his view, had seeped into public life. The Prime Minister's comments were echoed by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, who, in a BBC interview on October 3, called for protestors to "take a step back" and allow the Jewish community time to grieve after a recent attack in Manchester.
Yet, for many students and activists, the call to stay home was not just unwelcome—it was an affront to the very values they believe define Britain. In Sheffield, more than 100 demonstrators, organized by the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP), gathered at the Students' Union concourse, waving Palestinian flags and chanting slogans like "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free." Inigo Gordon, a society member, told The Sheffield Tab, "This day marks two years of genocide, and this anger needs to be expressed somehow. I don’t think there is anything wrong or anything anti-Semitic about hosting it on this day or anything insensitive. I think it would be insensitive not to."
Another RCP member, Anton Parocki, was blunt in his dismissal of the Prime Minister's concerns: "I don’t care what Keir Starmer has to say." He further argued, "Jewish people are regularly at these movements, and so the idea that it’s anti-Semitic in any way is a disgrace. It’s disgusting, and it’s not true. I’ve never seen any kind of anti-Semitism in these movements." The Jewish Bloc for Palestine, for its part, accused the government of "trying to weaponise the fear and grief of our community by resurrecting a slur—that those protesting for Palestine represent a danger to Jews," according to BSS/AFP.
The protests in Sheffield were mirrored by similar rallies in other cities. At King's College London, a few hundred students marched with Palestinian flags, demanding a free Palestine and denouncing Israel as a terrorist state. Vincent Ge, a second-year computer science student, told CBC News, "I think all these people have plenty of reasons to protest. Telling someone to not fight for what they believe in is silly." He added, "This country has been built off of how many different cultures? Unless [Starmer] can clearly define what it means to be un-British, then I don't think he should say something like that."
The protests, however, did not take place in a vacuum. Just days earlier, on October 2, a terror attack outside the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue in Manchester left two Jewish men dead. Police say Jihad Al-Shamie, a British man of Syrian descent, carried out the car ramming and stabbing attack on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. The attack led to an outpouring of grief and intensified accusations that the Labour government has not done enough to address rising antisemitism. The Community Service Trust, a British charity focused on Jewish security, recorded over 1,500 antisemitic incidents in the first half of 2025 alone.
Government officials responded with promises to bolster security at synagogues and to grant police additional powers to curtail protests that have "caused repeated disorder." Nearly 500 people were arrested at a London rally on October 4, many for supporting Palestine Action, a group banned by the UK government earlier in the year. Isaac Zarfati, executive director of StandWithUs UK, told CBC News that the protests have led to "hatred spilling out" into the streets, and called for a harder line against those supporting "terror."
Yet, not all voices in the Jewish community or among the British public agreed with the government's approach. At the London protest, Marc Etkind, a man in his early 60s and the son of a Holocaust survivor, wore a sign that read, "Stop the genocide in Gaza." He told CBC News, "I feel for people who die on any side in any war. What we need to do is to stop wars." For him, protesting was not "un-British"—it was the very essence of British democratic tradition.
Colin Davis, a professor of psychology at the University of Bristol, criticized the government's rhetoric as "irresponsible." In an email to CBC News, he wrote, "Protest has a long and proud history in this country, and we often celebrate protests of the past. It is common for governments to seek to delegitimize protest, but the accusation of it being 'un-British' is a new approach."
The University of Sheffield, meanwhile, tried to strike a conciliatory note. In a statement to The Sheffield Tab, a spokesperson said, "We continue to support our students and staff who have been directly affected or deeply troubled by the conflict. We’re acutely aware of the strength of feeling and the opposing views that exist in relation to this matter and we are encouraging our community, no matter their views, to stand together during this challenging time." The university also addressed concerns about its research partnerships with defense companies, clarifying that their work "does not involve production of components for deployment" and remains committed to "open and ethical collaboration."
As the dust settles from a day of protest and reflection, the debate over what it means to be "British"—and whether dissent is a threat or a testament to national values—remains unresolved. For now, the voices on the streets, in parliament, and across university campuses continue to shape a conversation as complex and fraught as the conflict itself.
