PROTESTS for Palestine continued in England today in advance of Saturday’s planned demonstrations in London, Manchester and other city centres.

Pro-Palestine protests have shown no sign of fizzling out despite the government’s attempts to delegitimise them. 

In Manchester, Palestine Action occupied the offices of Bank of New York (BNY) Mellon, demanding it end its £10 million investment in Israel’s biggest arms firm, Elbit, which produces weapons at four factories in Britain.

Palestine Action said: “The front of the offices are covered in red paint whilst two activists are on top of the front doors and another two attached themselves to lock-on devices to block the car park entrance.”

The action took place as a visit to the office was expected by senior bank executive Joanne Cash.

In central London, a candle-lit vigil was held in Trafalgar Square in memory of United States airman Aaron Bushnell, who set fire to himself outside the Israeli embassy in Washington in protest at Israel’s slaughter in Gaza and subsequently died.

Author and journalist Gary Younge said: “Aaron Bushnell made the ultimate sacrifice to protest against the vicious slaughter being committed in our name.”

He called for supporters to “continue the struggle for which he gave his life.”

The vigil was organised by Media Workers For Palestine and supported by the Palestinian Forum in Britain, Health Workers for a Free Palestine, Health Workers 4 Palestine, University and College Workers for Palestine and CWU Members for Palestine.

Earlier in the day, hundreds of climate justice and human rights activists protested outside the headquarters of finance firm AXA UK in the capital.

The action protested agaist the firm’s investments in banks and companies connected to Israeli illegal settlements and genocide in Palestine.

Protesters set up a symbolic “military checkpoint” and apartheid wall “to bring the reality of so many Palestinians to the doorstep of the company amid the ongoing genocide in Gaza,” according to organisers.

A Youth Front for Palestine spokesperson said: “Profits made by AXA and similar enablers of persecution are stained with the blood of the oppressed.

“It is our duty as supporters of the Palestinian call for liberation to denounce and dismantle these profiteers as long as they continue to fund genocide and ethnic cleansing.”