Friday, July 25, 6pm in Exeter city centre. Shops and cafes closing their doors for the evening, people heading home from work, others on their way to pubs and bars for the start of the weekend.
None of them could miss the large crowd in Bedford Square, just off the main street, where hundreds of people gathered behind a banner: STOP THE GENOCIDE OF PALESTINIANS. Placards bearing the same message were held up by many demonstrators, some with photos of skeletal children; images wretchedly familiar from TV news reports and the front pages of newspapers over the last few days.
Just after 6pm there was a sudden metallic clamour – the rhythmic, insistent banging of empty saucepans and cooking pots. Remember the ‘Clap for the NHS’ neighbourhood noise-making sessions during the Covid pandemic? It sounded like that, but this wasn’t a ‘thank you’, it was a distress call. An evocation of the empty pots and pans held out by starving Palestinians in Gaza, desperate for any of the food and humanitarian aid that gets past the Israeli blockades.
Similar protests were taking place in towns and cities across the UK, channelling a cry for help from the people of Gaza: ‘Stop arming Israel, stop the complicity in genocide’. In London, a large crowd clattered kitchen utensils outside Downing Street and laid down 1,000 pots and pans, representing the 1,000 Palestinians reportedly shot dead while queuing for food.
‘Our focus was on what was happening now in Gaza’
The peaceful demonstrations were organised by the national Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) in response to pleas from their contacts in Gaza. This was separate from the other recent protests against the government’s proscribing of the direct action group Palestine Action as a ‘terrorist organisation’ in early July. After the ban, which makes it a criminal offence to belong to or support Palestine Action, the PSC said it ‘utterly condemns’ this ‘grotesque decision’ and encouraged its own members to write to their MPs and sign a petition against it. But Friday’s demonstration was not part of this campaign.
One of the organisers, from the Exeter branch of the PSC, said: “The protest on Friday followed a decision by national PSC to support the call from people in Gaza to show solidarity with their plight. Our focus was on what was happening now in Gaza – not on the proscription of PA.”
In Exeter, around 400 people took part, coming from north, east, mid and south Devon as well as the city itself. There was no police presence at all, even though the Devon and Cornwall force would have been fully aware that the demonstration was taking place.
Naming the Palestinian children killed in the war
After the noisy clatter of cooking pots, the mood became muted and sombre. Members of PCS spoke of the 58,000 Palestinians killed in this latest war, including nearly 18,000 under the age of 18. A list of names was read out, each belonging to a baby or child who had lost their life – each name followed by the child’s age. Many had not even survived for one day, and others had lived for less than three months.
It was clear to passers-by that this was a vigil. Some walked by quietly, others paused to listen for a while. The drivers of two buses sounded their horns in support as they saw the quiet, dignified gathering.
But under the sadness was anger, frustration, and impatience for urgent action from the UK government, rather than just words. One speaker accused Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer of complicity in an ‘unbearable human catastrophe’, by continuing to allow arms sales to Israel. The speaker also condemned Barclays Bank for providing investment and financial support to arms companies used by Israel – ‘the economy of genocide’ – and called on the public to boycott Barclays and the other banks that deal in Israeli government bonds.
The Exeter demonstration drew to a close at 7pm, ending with a sung Hindu prayer.
‘Red Line’ demo announced for this Saturday, August 2
With the PCS promising a ‘summer of action’ in support of Palestine, the Exeter branch has just announced a ‘Red Line for Gaza‘ demonstration in Bedford Square at 12 noon this Saturday, to be followed by a protest at the office of Exeter’s Labour MP Steve Race. This campaign calls on MPs to speak up against the humanitarian ‘red lines’ that have been crossed by Israel: bombing hospitals, blocking food supplies to civilians. Supporters in Exmouth have already taken the same message to the MP for Exmouth and Exeter East, David Reed.
Exeter PSC spokesperson Mike Gurney said:
“Our MPs in Exeter – Steve Race and David Reed – still back Israel. They refuse to support the call to ban UK weapons sales to Israel, even though the vast majority of the British population want this to stop. They also refused to back the call for the UK to recognise Palestine as a state.
“In fact there was a huge increase in arms exports in late 2024 to £127.6 million after the UK had supposedly restricted sales. Also the RAF have conducted over 500 surveillance flights over Gaza, sharing the intelligence with Israel. The UK government has maintained full diplomatic relations with Israel, meeting military officials accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity, and our army has continued to participate in training with the Israeli military.
“It is hardly surprising that Israel has continued its war crimes in Gaza when the UK has done little to pressurise Israel.”
The Exeter PSC holds regular vigils for Palestine in Bedford Square, outside Barclays Bank, every Wednesday evening. Elsewhere, the PCS’s peaceful ‘summer of action’ will continue with further ‘pots and pans’ protests around the UK, marches in London, the ‘big ride’ events by cyclists, and smaller, localised gatherings. For further information, visit Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
