On Saturday 10 October, thousands gathered at the foot of the Mound for the Scottish National March for Palestine, marching through Edinburgh to the Scottish Parliament Building at Holyrood.
With participants having travelled in from across the country to, as one demonstrator said, “make [their] support for the Palestinian people known.”
The event takes place days after the third anniversary of the October 7 attacks.
The group’s chants of “free, free Palestine” and “welfare not warfare,” and accompanying drumming could be heard across neighbouring streets.
Outside Holyrood, officer for RMT Scotland Gordon Martin described the Scottish Government allowing Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF) to be granted an invitation to negotiations regarding the building of new ScotRail trains as “simply unacceptable.”
The company has operations in occupied Palestinian territories, and Martin proclaimed: “we don’t want CAF anywhere near these trains.”
A spokesman from the Palestinian Youth Movement described the march as intended to “honour land [that has been] under bombardment for decades.”
One speaker described outrage at the Scottish Government “not following through on divestment motions,” which was responded to with support from the crowd.
One student participant described themselves as “ashamed” by the Scottish government’s “inaction” and failure to appropriately implement the aims of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement (BDS).
Numerous student groups were present, with participants including members of Edinburgh University Justice for Palestine Society, Glasgow University Justice for Palestine Society, Glasgow Caledonian Palestine Solidarity Society, Herriot Watt Palestine Society, and Strathclyde Palestine Solidarity Society.
The event had a number of stalls outside the Scottish Parliament Building, including some raising funds for relief aid in Palestine, and others handing out fairy cakes to children attending the march.
Image by Ulia Makoveeva for The Student
