THOUSANDS are set to march in the first national demonstration for Palestine of the year tomorrow, with protesters also carrying the message: “No to war in Iran,” despite planned far-right action.

Groups including the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) have organised weekly protests since Israel’s war on Gaza began in October 2023.

The demonstration comes amid continuing Israeli attacks on Gaza and rising regional tensions involving Iran.

PSC said today it was concerned by the Metropolitan Police’s decision to permit a Ukip march to end in Trafalgar Square, close to the pro-Palestine demonstration.

In a statement, PSC said: “The Ukip march has already been banned twice from its originally planned location in Tower Hamlets, where it had a clear intention to provoke and possibly attack local residents, in particular members of the Muslim community.

“Ukip has an openly hostile, racist and antagonistic position towards Muslims and members of ethnic minorities in Britain, including Palestinians, as well as towards the wider anti-racist movement.

“The current Ukip leader who has called for their march tomorrow has appeared to use the Nazi salute on marches before.

“It is therefore extremely irresponsible for the police to have rerouted this racist march to a location so close to [ours], with the particular knowledge of the usual makeup of the Palestine marches, including large numbers of Palestinians, Muslims, Jews and anti-racist campaigners…”

The group said the police “seem to be giving unprecedented space and permission” to a group of far-right protesters, in contrast to “severe restrictions that they have continually placed on peaceful, diverse and family-friendly Palestine marches which are organised far in advance.”

It said the organisers have written to the Met challenging the “outrageous” decision and are calling on them to reroute the Ukip march.

PSC said that despite the “so-called ceasefire,” Israel’s attacks on Palestinians are continuing.

The group said protesters would march “in our thousands” to show there would be “global resistance” to the Trump administration’s colonial Board of Peace and to make clear they would not stop campaigning until the British government ends its “complicity in Israel’s ongoing genocide.”

Despite the end of the first phase of the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas and the return of remaining Israeli hostages, Palestinians in Gaza continue to face daily attacks, with aid still severely restricted.

Israeli forces maintain a tight military grip on the territory and have carried out strikes on neighbouring countries.

Meanwhile, tensions with Iran have escalated amid the threat of an Israel-backed US assault.

Protest co-organisers the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and Stop the War Coalition have “utterly condemned” US President Donald Trump’s threats of illegal military aggression against Iran, warning it could “trigger an absolutely catastrophic war across the Middle East.”

Their statement said: “The US has deployed a massive military force to the region, including the nuclear-powered USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, F35 fighter jets and B52 nuclear-capable bombers.

“Britain has also sent Typhoon jets to Al-Udeid base in Qatar.”

The groups urged the British government to rule out involvement in any attack on Iran and to deny the US use of the Diego Garcia base.

“We all remember the horror of the US-led illegal war on Iraq — a country half the size of Iran — in which over half a million people were slaughtered and millions displaced,” the statement said.

Protesters will gather in Russell Square, central London, at noon tomorrow before marching to Whitehall, with further actions expected across Britain.