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The protests have now come to an end, and we are closing the live blog.

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Videos from staff photographer Tim Merry show demonstrators chanting into megaphones, being escorted by police, and carrying banners with the names of Palestinian people who have been killed during the conflict.

Asked if the protest being held on the second anniversary of the attack was appropriate, a bystander from south west London said the war started long before.

They said: “It’s very important that people realise the war didn’t start on October 7, 2023.

“When you watch the news they say the war started on October 7 but this has been going on for decades.”

On Britain’s recognition of a Palestinian state, the 72-year-old, who didn’t want to give his name, said: “All Keir Starmer does is say how sorry he is for the starving in Gaza. But he does nothing to help.

“Keir Starmer would rather this protest didn’t happen. But he encourages it selling arms to Israel.”

A banner saying “you are complicit” was briefly unfurled over Tower Bridge in London before it was dragged away.

Reports from the scene say about 20 police are looking on as the protesters continue chanting outside Birkbeck.

Police confirmed there is now about 100 to 150 protesters present.

Jon King at the scene says it feels like the march is turning angrier as it proceeds past UCL and Senate House.

Chants call out for Israeli settlers to “go back home” and “Palestine is not your home”.

The counter protester has placed himself at the head of the march, shouting: “All the people behind me are supporting terrorists”.

Draped in an Israeli flag, a counter-protester said: “We need to get the terrorists out of Gaza.”

Reporters at the scene saw the man being spoken to by a police officer.

Protestors now stand outside UCL chanting “Intifada revolution”.

They can be seen waving Palestine flags and chanting loudly outside the University gates.

Videos coming in from staff photographer Tim Merry show scenes at today’s march in London.

Express reporter Jon King says protester numbers have swelled to a few hundred now after being joined by supporters at the London School of Economics.

The March is passing University College London’s central London campus, and is en route to the University of the Arts London campus near King’s Cross St Pancras Station.

Some are carrying Palestine flags, wearing face masks and keffiyehs.

They chant: “We are the students. We won’t be silenced. Stop the bombing now, now, now.”

The protests are being held on the anniversary of Hamas’ attack on Israel, a day that saw the biggest single loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust, when Hamas terrorists killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages.

It also follows highly controversial pro-Palestinian protests after Jihad Al-Shamie carried out a terror attack at a synagogue in Manchester, where two people died.

Sir Keir Starmer warned pro-Palestinian activists that “just because there is a freedom to protest” on October 7, it does not mean it is the right thing to do.

Reporter Jon King is at the site of the protests, where he says the march is just passing Russell Square.

Pictures are coming from our staff photographer, Tim Merry, of demonstrators carrying banners covered in the names of Palestinian people who have been killed during the conflict.

More to follow.

Asked if it was insensitive to stage and attend the protest, a 24-year-old man studying design at UAL, who didn’t want to give his name, strongly denied it.

He said: “I disagree with what Israel is doing in Palestine. It’s abhorrent. It’s a breach of international law. It’s genocide of innocent men, women and children.

“This narrative of Keir Starmer’s that this is unBritish. Is it British to support a terrorist state?

“If you want to create a good national narrative, then stand up for the rights of a people who are being slaughtered.”

Conrad Stein, 19, said his grandfather came to the UK from Austria on the Kindertransport.

The maths and philosophy student told the Express: “Everyone here respects the Jewish faith and community. We’re here to stand by Palestine.

“People who say this is insulting are conflating Judaism with Zionism. This protest is not an insult to Jewish people.”

Peter Charles, 58, a Jewish former bank worker who lives in central London said this was not how people should behave in a multicultural Britain.

He said: “Everybody has the right to free speech but this has been going on almost everyday.

“They could have done this on October 6 or 8. But they chose not to. Their aim is to insult. This is like celebrating the opening of Auschwitz.”

Express reporter Jon King is reporting from the scene, where he said organisers climbed onto a ledge at the front of King’s College London’s building in the Strand, and chanted “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”.

A group of students held a banner bearing the names of some 67,000 Gazans killed in the war.

About 150 to 200 students and supporters gathered outside King’s College, some waving Palestine flags showing the the words Free Palestine.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey agreed it would be “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.”

The Metropolitian Police has imposed conditions on a march involved students from several London universities today.

A post on X said: “We’ve imposed Public Order Act conditions on an Inter-University March in support of Gaza, departing from King’s College near The Strand at 14:00. The protest must follow the route shown on the map below.”

University leaders have urged students protesting on the anniversary of the October 7 attacks to think carefully about their actions, after the Prime Minister described the demonstrations as “un-British”.

Pro-Palestine protesters are set to defy Sir Keir Starmer’s call not to demonstrate on the second anniversary of the October 7 attacks, with students from several institutions set to gather at events around the country.

In a letter to students, University of Edinburgh principal and vice-chancellor Professor Sir Peter Mathieson 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.”

He added: “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.”

University students take part in a rally at Sheffield University, to call for the university’s divestment from arms companies supplying Israel, one of a several similar protests across the UK to mark two years since October 7.

Back in the UK, Jewish communities “have also endured rising antisemitism on our streets, in our country”, Sir Keir said, referencing last week’s Yom Kippur attack.

He added: “This is a stain on who we are, and this country will always stand tall and united against those who wish harm and hatred upon Jewish communities.

“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.

“We welcome the US initiative towards peace in the Middle East, and this government will do everything in our power to bring about the day where every child of Israel can live peacefully, alongside their Palestinian neighbours, in safety and security.”

In a lenghty post on X, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said of the October 7, 2023 attacks: “Time does not diminish the evil we saw that day. The worst attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust. The brutal, cold blooded torture and murder of Jews in their own homes. And the taking of hostages, including British citizens, some of whom remain in Gaza today.

“Since that awful day, so many have endured a living nightmare. When I spoke with some of the families of the British hostages, I promised them in person that we will not cease in our efforts to bring their loved ones home.”

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has pledged to keep on marching in a video uploaded to his X account.

Mr Corbyn – who now sits as an independent MP – said in the clip: “I am like you appalled, shocked and angered by what I see on TV screens every night.

“We are utterly determined to end the weapons supplies, to end the weapons sales, and to bring back peace and justice for the Palestinian people.

“On October 11 I am going to be there at the biggest ever demonstration in solidarity with the people of Palestine in central London.”

His video made no mention of Thursday’s synagogue attack – although he did condemn them in another post on X on the day they happened.

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, but a Palestine “bake sale” by students at the University of Liverpool has been postponed.

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.

Today’s protests are taking place on the second anniversary of Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel, in which an estimated 1,200 people died and several hundred were taken hostage.

Israel’s military response has cost the lives of more than 64,000 Palestinian’s, Gaza’s health ministry has claimed.

With specific reference to the UK, the protests take place just days after Thursday’s terror attack on a synagogue in Manchester in which two people were killed and several more injured.

There was also unhappiness that pro-Palestinian protests took place in the UK just a few hours later.

The PSC statement continued: “Recent days have seen renewed attempts to demonise the protests against Israel’s genocide in Gaza, most egregiously Kemi Badenoch’s baseless claim that they are ‘carnivals of hate.’

“In reality, the huge, diverse, and family-friendly marches have brought together people from every background and all walks of life. Contrary to the grotesque accusation that those taking part are motivated by antisemitism, Jewish people are integral to the marches – every single march has been attended by thousands of Jewish people, many of them marching in an organised Jewish bloc, with Jewish speakers on the platform.

“Unlike those who are irresponsibly trying to conflate Jewish people with Israel to falsely justify these proposed restrictions, our marches make clear that Jewish people are not to blame for Israel’s genocidal actions.”

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign has defended the right to protest in a lengthy post on its website.

The statement said: “Already, the national marches for Palestine are subject to what even the police admit are unprecedented restrictions – curtailing the routes, times and duration of marches.

“For more than six months, the police have only allowed the national Palestine marches on two routes through central London.

“Recently, including on the day that famine was officially declared in Gaza, the police have started to impose conditions to criminalise the banging of pots and pans, as well as the use of drums and use of megaphones.

“Despite this, there have been fewer arrests on average than is typical at other large events such as football matches and music festivals due to their peaceful and orderly character as recognised by the police.”

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said the pro-Palestine demonstrations showed “the same hatred that fuelled (the October 7 attacks) 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,” she said.

“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.”

In response to nearly 500 arrests during pro-Palestine Action demonstrations, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has announced new police powers to impose conditions on repeat protests, considering their “cumulative impact” to prevent community disruption.

Senior officers can now redirect events to other sites if a location has seen multiple gatherings, a move Mahmood described as essential for balancing the fundamental right to protest with the freedom of neighbors to live without fear.

Posting on X, she said: “Protest is a fundamental right, but this right must not be used to intimidate or spread fear amongst communities.”

Defend Our Juries, organisers of the recent rallies supporting the proscribed group, pledged a “major escalation” in response, heightening fears of further unrest.

Ms Mahmood expressed profound worry over Britain’s fraying community relations, citing a “rising tide of antisemitism” following a synagogue attack and committing the government to bolster security and integration efforts for all citizens.

Thousands of people converged on southern Israel on Tuesday to mourn the dead as the nation marked two years since Hamas’ October 7 attack plunged the region into a devastating war, while Israel and Hamas hold indirect talks in Egypt.

The main memorial is being organised by the bereaved families, separate from a ceremony the government will hold on the anniversary next week, according to the Hebrew calendar.

The split reflects deep divisions over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ’s leadership, which many blame for the failure to secure a ceasefire that would free the remaining hostages held by the militants.

Bridget Philippson likewise claimed pro-Palestinian protests taking place on the anniversary of the October 7 atrocities went against “British values”.

The Education Secretary told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “Even where those protests are lawful, I think our British values are also respect for one another, making sure that we have a sense of compassion, a sense of empathy and understanding that given that we are two years on and it’s the anniversary of those terrible, terrible events of October 7, and especially given the terrorist attack that we saw in Manchester, I would just say to those thinking about taking part in protests ‘do you really have to do that today, of all days?’

“There are 364 other days in the year where you can protest. And that is not to diminish their right to protest about the suffering that they see in Gaza, how they want the war to end and how they want hostages out and aid in. That’s what I want too.

“But two years on from October 7, I would just ask people to reflect and try and think about our shared humanity and our responsibilities to one another – and particularly Jewish people in our country – who today will be feeling a deep sense of mourning and loss and real concern.”

Sir Keir continued: “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.”

The anniversary comes less than a week after knife-wielding Jihad Al-Shamie, 35, launched a terror attack outside Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue, killing two men.

Adrian Daulby, 53, and Melvin Cravitz, 66, were both killed in the attack which unfolded on Yom Kippur, the most holy day in the Jewish calendar.

Greater Manchester Police has pledged to put “every available resource into making sure that we understand precisely what has happened”.

The UK will “always stand tall” against those who wish harm and hatred upon Jewish communities, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said as he urged students not to protest on the second anniversary of the October 7 attacks.

About 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage in the deadly attacks on Israel by Hamas in 2023.

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”.

In London, a key march by students from King’s College London, the London School of Economics, University College London and SOAS begins with a 2 pm class walkout.

The group will process through central London campuses, pressing universities to divest from companies tied to Israel.

Protesters connect the action to the human cost in Gaza since October 2023, aiming to spotlight institutional roles in the conflict.

This follows Sunday’s Trafalgar Square gathering, where pro-Palestine voices rallied amid arrests.

Pro-Palestine students at universities across the UK will hold rallies and events on Tuesday to mark two years of the Gaza conflict and remember Palestinian victims – despite Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer urging them to cancel on the anniversary of the Hamas attacks on Israel. In London, a march by students from King’s College London, the London School of Economics, University College London and SOAS starts with a 2 pm class walkout and heads through central campuses to call for university divestment from Israel.

At Queen Mary University in London, Action for Palestine is running a rally at Library Square on “two years of resistance,” while King’s College London’s Students for Justice in Palestine holds an evening debate on the conflict’s roots, and Goldsmiths for Palestine shows films at the Feminist Library in Peckham tonight to honour those lost. Up north, the University of Sheffield has an on-campus rally led by its Revolutionary Communist Society, Strathclyde University protesters gather at Rottenrow Gardens in Glasgow for a ceasefire vigil, Edinburgh University’s Justice for Palestine Society meets at the main library, and Leeds University’s group discusses Gaza at a city-centre bookshop this evening. Other events today include a bake sale raising funds for aid at Liverpool University’s Guild of Students and a vigil in Birmingham to remember Palestinian lives taken since October 2023.