London, February 16 (RHC)-- Thousands of pro-Palestine demonstrators have marched through central London to protest Donald Trump’s proposal for the U.S. to “take over” the Gaza Strip.

Waving Palestinian flags and brandishing placards saying “hands off Gaza”, several thousand people walked from Whitehall, in Westminster, to the U.S. embassy in Nine Elms, in southwest London on Saturday.

Protesters also held banners that read “Stand up to Trump” and “Mr Trump, Canada is not your 51st state.  Gaza is not your 52nd”.

Earlier this month, Trump’s suggestion that the U.S. could redevelop the embattled enclave and turn it into the “Riviera of the Middle East” attracted global condemnation.

His proposal aims to resettle Palestinians elsewhere, with no plan for them to return.  “I think it’s completely immoral, illegal, impractical and absurd,” 87-year-old Holocaust survivor Stephen Kapos told the AFP news agency.

“You simply cannot deport two million people, especially that the surrounding countries already said that they wouldn’t take them, not out of the goodness of their heart but because it would destabilise those countries.  So, it’s not going to happen but it does a lot of damage simply stating that as an endgame.

The march, organized by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), was the 24th major pro-Palestinian protest in London since October 7, 2023.  A heavy police presence was deployed as officers kept protesters away from a counter-march called “Stop the Hate,” where participants waved Israeli flags.

Earlier on Saturday, Hamas released captives in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians freed from Israeli prisons, completing the latest swap of a fragile Gaza ceasefire deal.

Hamas issued a statement after the release saying it was “a renewed message” to Israel.  “The release of the sixth batch of enemy prisoners confirms there is no way to free them except through negotiations and by adhering to the requirements of the ceasefire agreement,” the group said.