Protests across west Dorset following Lebanon attacks

Dorset Palestine Solidarity Campaign (DPSC) staged the protests in Dorchester and Bridport on Thursday, September 26

This was part of emergency national protests called by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), in response to the extension of Israel's war on Gaza to Lebanon.

The PSC is demanding an arms embargo on Israel and an immediate, permanent ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon.

READ: Pro-Palestine protest outside Barclays Bank Dorchester

Protesters are calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon to the end the conflict (Image: Steve Pallant) More than 40 protestors gathered in Brewery Square, Dorchester and 30 in Bucky Doo Square to protest the continuing conflict in Gaza and now Lebanon.

Poppy, youth organiser and activist said: "I along with many others, am in utter disbelief at the images I have witnessed from the Israeli bombardment, my grief is beyond words."

Joe Collins in Bucky Doo Square, cited a slogan on a pro Palestine banner:  “But what can I do, I am just one person, said 7 billion people!”

The numbers of people worldwide demanding justice and security for the Palestinian people cannot be ignored, added Collins.

READ: Pro-Palestine protests in Dorchester and Weymouth

Protesters in Dorchester during a demonstration calling for an arms embargo on Israel (Image: Steve Pallant) Israel has killed at least 569 people, including 50 children and 94 women, across Lebanon since September 23.

The latest death toll after, a year of war in Gaza also stands at 42,183, including 16,500 children.

More than half of Gaza’s homes have been damaged or destroyed; 85 per cent of school buildings; only 17 of 36 hospitals are partially functional; 65 per cent of road networks are destroyed. Every university has been systematically destroyed.

READ: Dorset Palestine Solidarity Campaign hold die-in

Rob Ferguson, secretary, Dorset PSC speaking in Bucky Doo Square. (Image: Dorset PSC)Rob Ferguson, secretary of Dorset PSC, added: "The emergency protests across Britain are vitally important.

"We need to build the mass solidarity movement. Netanyahu wants to lock the US into support for its onslaught on Palestine by extending war across the region.

"The price will be paid by countless deaths of ordinary people. It is time to force our government to stop arming Israel."

The protests are the latest in a series of demonstrations held in Dorset by the group in Bridport, Dorchester and Weymouth.

Last year the group also joined more than half a million people who held a peaceful march through London on Armistice Day.