Pro-Palestine student protesters defy calls to cancel demonstrations as Israel marks two years since Hamas attacks on October 7

The son of a Holocaust survivor said the Government has ‘slandered’ students protesting against the war in Gaza on the anniversary of the October 7 attack.

Mark Etkind, who is in his early 60s and joined a protest marching between several London universities on Tuesday, said:

Students today have been protesting against the Gaza genocide, two years since October 7th – the appalling massacre, and in the media and, in fact, the Government itself Starmer has slandered these students, saying they’re somehow being insensitive to the suffering of October 7th, or indeed to … the terrible crime in Manchester that happened last week, while ignoring the obvious fact that their priority is to oppose the genocide now, to oppose the ongoing conflict which Britain unfortunately is complicit in because we are still sending weapons to Israel.

Mr Etkind, from Watford, added:

The priority for me, as the son of a Holocaust survivor, is not just to mourn people who’ve already died, no matter how important that is – it’s stop the killing now.

If Starmer had any concern about civilian lives at all, he would stop his own complicity in genocide.

The Welsh First Minister has stopped short of condemning protests on the second anniversary of the October 7 attacks.

Speaking at First Minister’s Questions, Darren Millar, leader of the Welsh Conservatives, urged Baroness Morgan to condemn today’s protests.

Last week, on Yom Kippur, we saw an atrocious, murderous, barbaric antisemitic attack in Manchester, at the Heaton Park synagogue. And, of course, today marks the second anniversary of the atrocities of the October 7 massacre in Israel, carried out by Hamas terrorists.

The Jewish community, understandably, here in Wales, and across the UK, is fearful of yet further attacks, and they feel intimidated and hurt by the disrespectful behaviour of some terrorist-supporting protesters who continue to fuel hatred on our streets.

Will you join me today in condemning those who are taking part in such protests?

But Baroness Morgan said it was the responsibility of politicians to ‘calm the temperature’ following tensions.

I think we’ve got to use extreme sensitivity on this day of all days. It is our responsibility as leaders within our communities to make sure that we are appealing for people to calm down and not to raise the temperatures at a really sensitive time.

Students demonstrating at pro-Palestinian protests across the country have hit out at Sir Keir Starmer, saying the Prime Minister’s opinion counts for ‘very little’.

Sheffield University student Anton Parocki (pictured) laughed when asked about Sir Keir’s comments that the timing of the protests was ‘un-British’ and showed a lack of respect.

I think it’s quite funny. What does that mean? Are all these people here anti-British? Are all the millions of people that come out for Palestinian protests anti-British? Is it anti-Britsh to go against a genocide? That seems like what he’s saying, which is quite funny.

But, to be honest, I don’t care what a war criminal says. Keir Starmer is a war criminal, so his opinion means very little to me.

While an 18-year-old King’s College London student added:

Keir Starmer, to be honest, he hasn’t really done much anyway, and I believe that for him to say it’s ‘not British enough’, it’s just unjust of him, it doesn’t make any sense.

Here are the latest photographs we can show you from London where students from multiple universities are taking part in a pro-Palestinian march.

The demonstration has gone ahead despite politicians and universities calling for them to delay the rally until after the second anniversary of Hamas’ attacks on Israel on October 7 two years ago.

An Edinburgh University staff member taking part in a pro-Palestinian demonstration has described those calling for the protest not to take place as ‘hypocrites’.

Sara Al Disi, 32, told the PA news agency:

We are protesting the violence that’s actually been enacted on the Palestinian people. The (Manchester) synagogue attack, it’s a very horrific thing, and it’s actually very scandalous that the media and the politicians are using it to suppress pro-Palestine activism, because it’s not the same thing.

They’re trying to equate antisemitism and anti-Zionism. And I think a lot of people just don’t believe that any more. It does not wash.

I think we should protest today, especially because they’re trying to make it so that (we can’t protest) on that day – and to say that actually they’re hypocrites.

A woman visiting the UK from Israel said pro-Palestine demonstrations organised on Tuesday were ‘wildly offensive and irresponsible’.

Speaking outside King’s College London where students gathered to protest against the war in Gaza, Emily Schrader criticised demonstrations taking place on the anniversary of the October 7 attack.

Holding an Israeli flag, the 34-year-old said of the October 7 attack:

It was an awful, awful event, the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and we didn’t see an Israeli military response in any way, shape or form, until October 27th, and so to protest today specifically isn’t a sign of support for Palestinians.

It’s a sign of support for Hamas and the actions that happened that day, and it’s wildly offensive and irresponsible, both for Israelis, of course, but even more than that, also for Palestinians who have been suffering under Hamas, who are also victims of the terror group – the UK-designated terrorist organisation.

Jewish protesters have been pictured outside King’s College London where students are holding one of several pro-Palestinian demonstrations across the country.

The group unfurled Israeli flags while one read ‘Jewish and proud’. A man was also seen wearing a t-shirt bearing the slogan ‘free Gaza from Hamas’.

Students and staff at Edinburgh University criticised university management alongside Sir Keir Starmer at a pro-Palestine protest in the Scottish capital.

Many protesters were carrying flags and placards bearing pro-Palestinian slogans as they gathered outside the university’s main library on George Square.

They were addressed by speakers, including from a number of student organisations, and were led in English and Arabic chants to the sound of drums.

Participants shouted the word ‘shame’ and cheered at intervals as the speakers called for an end to the ongoing conflict, and for the university to divest of investments in companies they said are producing weapons being used in the conflict.

They also criticised calls from Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and the university management not to take part in the protest.

A student protesting against the war in Gaza said Sir Keir Starmer’s criticism of demonstrations planned for the anniversary of the October 7 attacks is ‘unjust’.

Speaking outside King’s College London on Tuesday, the student, who wished to remain anonymous, said of the Prime Minister’s comments:

Keir Starmer, to be honest, he hasn’t really done much anyway, and I believe that for him to say it’s ‘not British enough’, it’s just unjust of him, it doesn’t make any sense.

Us as humans, we have to come together to protest about this. It’s a critical, critical matter that we have to speak upon.

Palestinians are still humans at the end of the day, and these countless, countless massacres that are going on, it’s completely wrong.

Asked why he had chosen to attend the protest, the 18-year-old said:

Today, it would have either been me choosing a lecture or choosing this Palestinian protest and I believe this protest is much, much more important than the lecture, because it is not talked about enough how much these Palestinians are suffering.

Students at the University of Glasgow unfurled a banner reading ‘glory to our martyrs’ as they demonstrate on campus.

The protest was staged initially outside the university’s library before spreading to other areas.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey says it is ‘completely wrong’ for people to take part in protests in support of Palestine on the second anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attack.

Speaking to the PA news agency during a visit to Fife, Sir Ed said:

I think people shouldn’t protest today. Liberal Democrats are giving a strong message that protesting on this anniversary with all the grief and sadness of it, particularly in the UK given what happened last week in Manchester with the appalling terrorist attack on worshippers at the synagogue.

I think it would be completely wrong for people to protest.

Students from Goldsmiths University have joined pro-Palestine protests in London today as people mark the second anniversary of the Hamas attacks on Israel.

Undergraduates from King’s College London, London School of Economics, University College London, and School of Oriental and ­African Studies (SOAS) are taking part in a march through the capital to mark two years since what they describe as ‘the beginning of the genocide in Gaza’.

Protesters demanding an end to the war in Gaza are gathering outside King’s College London on the second anniversary of the October 7 attacks.

Demonstrators wearing keffiyeh scarves and face masks unfurled a banner stretching across an entrance to a university building on the Strand in central London, as a protester with a microphone led chants on Tuesday afternoon.

University staff held up the banner so students could still enter the building.

Social media posts said the march will travel past the London School of Economics and University College London before ending at the gates of SOAS university near Russell Square.

Pro-Palestine students chanted ‘from the river to the sea’ during protests on the second anniversary of Hamas’ October 7 attacks on Israel.

Around 100 people demonstrated outside Sheffield University’s students’ union where they chanted: ‘From river to the sea, Palestine will be free.’

The song, which has been adopted by Hamas and is used in the terror group’s official charter, is deemed anti-Semitic and a direct call for the state of Israel to be destroyed.

The Palestinian flag-waving students also accused Israel of a ‘holocaust’ and shouted: ‘Your uni is covered in Palestinian blood’.

It comes as students across the country defied warnings from Keir Starmer to stay away from ‘un-British’ protests on the second anniversary of the attacks which claimed the lives of 1,200 people.

One organiser of Sheffield’s took aim at the PM after Sir Keir branded activists ‘un-British’, defiantly saying: ‘To be honest, I don’t care what a war criminal says… Keir Starmer is a war criminal, so his opinion means very little to me.’

Of the more than a dozen protests meant to be held at universities – including Edinburgh and London – to mark the anniversary, themes include events to ‘honour our martyrs’ and celebrate ‘two years of resistance’.

Students at the University of Edinburgh have defied calls from university chiefs to cancel pro-Palestine demonstrations.

Dozens of protesters gathered outside the university library wearing keffiyehs and holding placards reading ‘Freedom for Palestine’ and ‘Starmer has blood on his hands’.

Their protest went ahead despite a letter from Vice-Chancellor Sir Peter Mathieson, who urged students to call it off.

In a statement, the Edinburgh University Justice for Palestine Society accused the university of trying to silence them, calling the move a ‘blatant attempt to suppress campus discourse on an ongoing genocide’.

A pro-Palestine rally due to take place at the University of Strathclyde today has been postponed after officials said it would be ‘insensitive’ to go ahead.

The demonstration, organised by the university’s Palestine Solidarity Society, was set to be held at Rottenrow Gardens, but has been delayed following intervention from university bosses.

A spokesperson said: ‘While the University of Strathclyde remains committed to upholding free speech, we have asked the organisers of [today’s] event to delay their demonstration.

‘We believe that holding an event of this nature on this date is insensitive and we have asked that they delay to show their civic responsibility and common decency.’

A university boss has warned that protesters should ‘think carefully about their actions’.

Professor Sir Peter Mathieson, vice-chancellor of the University of Edinburgh, has appealed for protesting students to think about their motivations and the effect their actions have on the wider community.

This comes as a protest at the University of Edinburgh is due to take place at the Main Library today.

In a letter to students, he said: ‘I appeal to members of our community, irrespective of their race, religion, nationality or beliefs, to think carefully about their actions, their motivations and the effect that they might have on other members of our community.’

Adding: ‘Our community should not attempt to justify or glorify acts of gratuitous violence against innocents.

‘It is important that anyone participating in demonstrations against what is happening in Gaza does not fall into this trap.’

Ahead of the planned Pro-Palestine protests on the second anniversary of the Hamas attacks and almost a week after the attack at a synagogue in Manchester, Communities Minister Miatta Fahnbulleh told LBC that the country has seen a ‘rise in antisemitism that is absolutely unacceptable’.

She added: ‘We have had, for the first time in our history, a Jewish person killed because they are Jewish. That is absolutely unacceptable, and we need to stand alongside the Jewish community in solidarity.

‘What I would say to people is the Jewish community are our neighbours, they’re our community, they’re our friends, and we should be compassionate and thoughtful and considerate.’

An organiser at the University of Sheffield student protest has branded the Prime Minister a ‘war criminal’ as he insists he ‘couldn’t give a damn’ if today’s demonstrations are ‘un-British’.

Anton Parocki, of the Sheffield Revolutionary Communist Society, told The Times:

I couldn’t give a damn what he said, to be honest. He’s a war criminal, right? So he can say whatever he likes — it doesn’t affect me at all.

Mr Parocki also insisted Jewish people were participating in the protests.

Around 100 people have joined a demonstration outside at the students’ union building at Sheffield University.

Those who gathered shouted chants including:

‘From river to the sea, Palestine will be free’, ‘there is only one solution – revolution, revolution’ and ‘occupation is a crime, get your hands off Palestine’.

Those who gathered for the Revolutionary Communist Party-organised event on Tuesday also chanted criticism of the university’s policies, shouting: ‘Your uni is covered in Palestinian blood.’

A few protesters were carrying Palestinian flags but only a couple carried placards.

The protest was watched by a handful of university security officers but there was no obvious police presence.

The woman captured cutting down yellow ribbons for Israeli hostages from a memorial in north London is a Palestinian-Jewish artist, the Daily Mail can reveal.

Nadia Yahlom, of north London, used scissors to brazenly snip the memorial bands that the Jewish community had tied to railings in honour of the 251 people taken hostage by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023.

Ms Yahlom declared the ribbons – which were put up on the eve of the second anniversary of the attacks – were ‘condoning genocide’.

The yellow ribbon is the symbol of the ‘Bring Them Home’ campaign for those who have been held captive by Hamas terrorists and kept against their will in Gaza.

Ms Yahlom, whose identity was until now unknown, is a pro-Palestine artist whose work focuses on ‘hauntedness and supernatural life’ in the war-torn state.

She studied at Cambridge University and Goldsmiths before embarking on an Arts PhD at the University of Westminster. Her husband is a Palestinian actor.

Photographs of Israeli victims and hostages have been placed on chairs in front of Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate to mark the second anniversary of the Hamas attack against Israel.

More than 1,000 chairs have been placed as part of a memorial vigil organised by Jewish Student Union Germany.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp says all those who express racial or religious hatred, or support for terrorism, should be removed from the country if they are not British citizens.

Mr Philp told the Conservative party conference that this explicitly includes ‘those at the student marches today’.

We must all stand up to extremism wherever we see it, because standing by and saying nothing when encountering extremism is complicity.

And those expressing extremism or antisemitism or racial or religious hatred of any kind or support for terrorism, who are not British citizens, should be removed from this country, including those at the student marches today.

Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman says Israel should have ceased operations in Gaza already in line with Donald Trump’s peace plan.

Majed al-Ansari told reporters in Doha:

We await the outcomes of the negotiations in the coming days regarding the ceasefire. This question should be directed first to the Israeli occupation government. It was supposed to actually cease fire if the statements made by the prime minister there regarding adherence to the Trump plan were true.

It comes as Israeli tanks, boats and jets pounded parts of Gaza today, giving Palestinians no respite on the anniversary of the Hamas attack that led to two years of war.

High profile media figures are coming out against anyone planning to attend a pro-Palestine protest today on the second anniversary of the October 7 attacks in Israel.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has described the demonstrations as ‘un-British’ amid plans for rallies in cities and on university campuses.

Here’s how some critics have responded on social media:

Donald Trump will meet Edan Alexander, who was believed to be the last surviving US hostage held by Hamas in Gaza.

The Israeli-American national was handed over by militants in May.

Trump’s meeting with Alexander comes as the US president made public a proposal last week for Gaza’s future, including ending Israel’s war in the enclave.

The meeting is scheduled for 3pm ET (7pm UK time) at the White House.

A pro-Palestine protest scheduled to take place at the University of Strathclyde has been postponed, it has been reported.

The university’s Palestine Solidarity Society apparently took the action following a request to delay the demonstration by the university, according to Jewish News.

The rally had called on students, known as ‘Strathclyders’, to ‘grab your flag and your keffiyah’.

A university spokesman told Jewish News:

While the University of Strathclyde remains committed to upholding free speech, we have asked the organisers of tomorrow’s event to delay their demonstration. We believe that holding an event of this nature on this date is insensitive and we have asked that they delay to show their civic responsibility and common decency.

Israel and Hamas held their first day of negotiations in Egypt on Monday on US President Donald Trump’s plan to halt the war in Gaza, wrestling with contentious issues such as demands that Israel withdraw and Hamas disarm.

Israel and Hamas have both endorsed the overall principles behind Trump’s plan, under which fighting would cease, hostages go free and aid pour into Gaza.

The plan also has the backing of Arab and Western states. Trump has called for negotiations to take place swiftly towards a final deal, in what Washington hails as the closest the sides have yet come to ending the two-year-old conflict.

Trump, who has cast himself as the only world leader capable of achieving peace in Gaza, has invested significant political capital in efforts to end the war that has killed tens of thousands and left U.S. ally Israel increasingly isolated on the world stage.

‘I really think we’re going to have a deal,’ Trump told reporters on Monday at the White House as the delegations met in Egypt. ‘We have a really good chance of making a deal, and it’ll be a lasting deal.’

Today marks the two-year anniversary of Palestinian militant group Hamas’ attack on Israel that triggered the ongoing offensive in the Gaza Strip.

Following are reactions from European leaders:

• Prime Minister Keir Starmer

Today, we mark two years since the horrifying attacks on Israel by Hamas terrorists on October 7th 2023. Time does not diminish the evil we saw that day. The worst attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust. Since that awful day, so many have endured a living nightmare … Our priority in the Middle East remains the same – release the hostages. Surge aid into Gaza. And a ceasefire that can lead to a lasting and just peace as a step towards a Two-State solution. A safe and secure Israel, alongside a viable Palestinian state.

• EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen

We will never forget the horror of the Hamas attacks on 7 October and the pain they caused to innocent victims, their families and the entire people of Israel, two years ago. “We honour their memory by working tirelessly for peace. The immediate release of all hostages and a ceasefire are now within reach … This moment must be seized to pave the way for a lasting peace in the region, based on the two-state solution.

• French President Emmanuel Macron

Two years after the unspeakable horror of Hamas terrorism, the pain remains raw. We do not forget. I reiterate France’s call: the release of all hostages and a ceasefire must take place without delay.

• Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni

Two years have passed since the ignominy of the massacre carried out by Hamas terrorists against thousands of defenceless and innocent Israeli civilians, including women and children. Unspeakable crimes that make October 7 one of the darkest pages in history. Hamas’ violence has triggered an unprecedented crisis in the Middle East. Israel’s military response has gone beyond any principle of proportionality, claiming too many innocent lives among Gaza’s civilian population. We all have a duty to do everything within our power to ensure that this precious and fragile opportunity – the peace plan presented by President Trump – succeeds.

• Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson

It has now been exactly two years since Hamas’ horrific terrorist attack on Israel on October 7. Against completely civilian Israelis – families, women, children and dancing youth. It was the worst mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust. Since then, Jews in Sweden have testified that they feel unsafe in their own country. My message is: There is no place for anti-Semitism in Sweden. Jews in Sweden should be able to proudly wear the Star of David, visit the synagogue and leave their children in Jewish schools. All Swedish Jews should know that we stand behind you.

Furious bystanders have confronted a young woman as she cut down yellow ribbons for Israeli hostages from a fence in north London.

Video footage showed her with a pair of scissors which she used to brazenly snip the memorial bands that the Jewish community had tied to railings.

Wearing a navy blue bomber jacket and clutching a green, white and purple striped tote bag under her arm, she declared the ribbons were ‘condoning genocide’.

It comes as Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said today that the UK will ‘always stand tall’ against those who wish harm and hatred upon Jewish communities, and urged students not to protest on the second anniversary of the October 7 attacks.

In Israel, dozens of relatives and friends of those killed at the Nova music festival lit candles and held a minute’s silence at the site of the attack, where militants killed more than 370 people and seized dozens of hostages.

Orit Baron, whose daughter Yuval was killed at the festival with her fiance Moshe Shuva, told AFP that October 7 was a ‘black’ day for her family.

‘Now it’s two years. And I’m here to be with her, because this is the last time that she was alive,’ the 57-year-old mother said at the site of the attack, adding she felt ‘that right now she’s with me here’.

Another ceremony was due in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, where weekly rallies have kept up calls for the captives’ release.

A state-organised commemoration is planned for October 16 after the ongoing Sukkot holidays.

Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick branded plans for protests today in towns and cities including London, Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Bristol, on the anniversary of the October 7 attacks ‘a f****** disgrace’.

He told a fringe event at the Tory party conference yesterday:

I heard today that there are protests being scheduled in universities for October the 7th – that’s a f****** disgrace.

I would say first and foremost to people, our fellow citizens who are thinking of doing that, show some common decency.

If organisers refuse to call off such protests then a change in the law to consider the ‘cumulative impact’ should be considered, he said, noting Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has already taken steps towards this.

Ms Mahmood said repeated large-scale protests had caused ‘considerable fear’ for the Jewish community, as she pledged to give police greater powers to restrict protests.

Students planning to join pro-Palestine protests today have been told to remember today is an anniversary on an attack on innocent people and that expressing support for a terror group is a criminal offence.

Universities UK head Vivienne Stern said:

While universities must be places where contentious views can be expressed, and while universities have a legal duty to uphold free speech, we urge students and staff participating in protests to remember that 7 October is the anniversary of an atrocious attack on innocent people, and that expressing support for a terrorist organisation is a criminal offence.

On October 7, 2023, thousands of terrorists led by Hamas flooded out of Gaza into Israel to perpetrate the single-worst slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust.

The merciless violence claimed 1,200 lives, mostly civilians, and saw thousands more injured, raped and brutalised.

Hundreds were taken back to Gaza as hostages. Two years on, the dust has still not settled.

Read our Deep Dive below:

Britain’s Jewish university students face ‘terrifying levels of racism… day in, day out’ according to a report published by StandWithUs UK.

Isaac Zarfati said antisemitism on campuses shows no sign of abating even following the terrible events in Manchester where two people were killed during an attack on a synagogue by an armed Islamist perpetrator.

The deliberate scheduling of “resistance” events on the anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 terror atrocities is particularly grotesque.

Mr Zarfati called on the Prime Minister and education secretary to ‘get a grip of rampant anti-Semitism and extremism’ now reportedly raging across university campuses.

Louis Danker, president of the Union of Jewish Students, said he respected free speech and the right to protest.

However, Mr Danker said on October 7, many Jewish students would be seeking ‘to mourn their loved ones murdered in southern Israel’, and pleaded for rallies to be held on another date.

Pro-Palestinan protesters have held a vigil in the Australian city of Melbourne in the latest demonstrations aimed to stop the war in Gaza.

It is one of several demonstrations in the country as Jewish Australians also hold commemorations to remember the victims of October 7.

Victoria Police launched an investigation after a pro-Hamas slogan was daubed on a billboard in the city. The words ‘glory to Hamas’ were painted on the blank billboard in the inner-Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy.

Britain’s Jewish leaders, as well as university chiefs and senior politicians, have all voiced their repulsion at the timing of today’s planned demonstrations.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews said it was ‘disgusted by reports of recent hate-filled protests on university campuses’.

Keith Black, chairman of Jewish Leadership Council, is also sickened by the scheduled events on the anniversary of Hamas’s massacre in Israel.

Protesting on campuses on October 7 is a disgraceful and deeply upsetting strategy to cause maximum pain to Jewish students.

The content of these demonstrations is likely to be anti-Semitic and incite violence. For those involved to claim any kind of moral authority is a lie, these protests are driven by hate.

Bridget Phillipson this morning appealed for students to refrain from joining pro-Palestine protests on campuses as Israel marks the second anniversary of the October 7 attacks carried out by Hamas.

Watch her interview on Sky News earlier:

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has said the hatred that fuelled the barbaric attacks in southern Israel ‘still festers today’.

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.

Ms Badenoch also repeated her claim that the Government’s decision to recognise Palestine as a state has ‘rewarded terrorists’ that carried out the October 7 attacks.

In Liverpool a ‘Palestine bake sale’ was advertised to take place at the Guild of Students today but has now been postponed.

The event was subtitled ‘time for dessert’, which one witness described as implying that the ‘main course’ was the massacre of so many people two years ago.

I know that Jewish students at the uni are very distressed by this – my daughter is one of them – and the planned event, coming also as it does just days after a terrorist attack on Jews at the Heaton Park Synagogue on Yom Kippur.

It has made them feel unwelcome and unsafe. The event was posted on their Instagram on Friday – the day after Manchester’s attack.

However the University of Liverpool told Jewish News the event had been postponed.

Israelis have stood in silence today to mark the second anniversary of its darkest day, October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched an attack that claimed more than 1,200 lives and resulted in hundreds being taken hostage.

Across southern communities and in Tel Aviv, citizens held memorials at border towns and at the Nova festival site.

At the same time, families rallied in ‘Hostages Square,’ insisting on the return of those still held in Gaza.

Many said prayers, while some shed tears and hugged each other as they marked the solemn occasion.

The families of some victims organised vigils in front of pictures of their loved ones as they mourned their loss.

At least six universities have advertised pro-Palestine protests today.

Three of them are in London.

At Queen Mary University, organisers are planning a rally dubbed: ‘Two Years of Genocide, Two Years of Resistance’.

Students at Goldsmiths, University of London, are also gearing up for an event, advertised as a ‘night of remembrance and resistance’.

While At nearby King’s College in London, students have been invited to a talk entitled: ‘Why It Didn’t Start On October 7th’.

Further afield, at in Strathclyde University in Glasgow, students are urged to ‘grab your flag and keffiyeh’ and attend a ‘Protest 4 Palestine’.

In Birmingham, protesters will stage a vigil for Palestine to ‘honour our martyrs’, with posts for the event saying: ‘Two years of genocide, 100-years of resistance’.

Meanwhile, at the University of Sheffield, the Revolutionary Communist Party refused pleas to move the date of its march, citing the cost of having to reprint posters.

Students considering joining pro-Palestinian protests on the anniversary of the Hamas attacks on Israel should pause and ‘show some humanity’, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson says this morning.

A string of protests at universities are expected later on Tuesday, two years on from the October 7 atrocities in southern Israel.

Ms Phillipson told Sky News:

There is, of course, within our country the fundamental right to protest. It’s a cornerstone of our democracy.

But my message is that, as we remember the awful atrocities that took place two years ago on October 7, I would just encourage those considering taking part in protests to pause, to reflect and to understand the deep sense of loss that many people in our country will be experiencing today, not least given the appalling attacks we saw at Manchester last week.

So my message is that whilst you might have the right to protest, I would urge people to show some humanity, to show some respect and to understand the deep sense of grief and loss that many Jewish people in our country will be experiencing today.

Students across the country are set to defy warnings from the Prime Minister who urged them to refrain from pro-Palestine demonstrations on the anniversary of the October 7 attacks.

Sir Keir Starmer described the protests which are scheduled to take place at universities today as ‘un-British’, claiming they show a lack of respect for others.

Writing in The Times, Sir Keir said:

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.

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

Good morning and welcome to the Daily Mail’s live coverage of pro-Palestine protests taking place at UK universities on the anniversary of the October 7 attacks.

On this day two years ago around 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage in Israel during a deadly rampage by Hamas terrorists.

Israel responded by launching a military campaign in Gaza against Hamas which has killed more than 67,000 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Today’s protests come amid widespread calls for the war in Gaza to end but have been described as ‘un-British’ by Sir Keir Starmer in the wake of last week’s synagogue attack in Manchester.

The Prime Minister said demonstrations have been used by some as a ‘despicable excuse to attack British Jews’.

Stick with us throughout the day as we bring you the latest from universities up and down the country plus all the political reaction.