THOUSANDS of Palestine activists demonstrated outside the BBC headquarters in Salford on Saturday, condemning the organisation’s coverage of Israel’s war crimes in Gaza and demanding an immediate ceasefire.

More than 100 children led the protest in an action organised by charity Creative Kindness. They left toys, clothes, and shoes to symbolise what remains in Gaza’s rubble, highlighting the under-reported deaths of 12,000 Palestinian children, and brought kites with messages of solidarity to those who have survived so far. 

Palestinians from Gaza also attended, displaying photos of their family members killed by Israeli attacks, recounting how they lost loved ones in bombings in 2014 and 2009. 

Norma Turner, chair of Greater Manchester Friends of Palestine, told the rally: “The children of Manchester sent a message of hope to the children of Palestine, where there is no hope, due to the genocide being continually carried out by Israel.

“Israel is deliberately targeting children so that there is no next generation of Palestinians.”

Nick Beesley from Manchester Palestine Action said: “An unprecedented number of children, doctors, journalists and emergency service workers have been murdered by Israel’s bombings. 

“Imagine if those victims were Israeli or British — we would be reporting this as the barbaric crimes against humanity they clearly are.

“We must hold our media and government to account, and demand they treat every Palestinian life with the same care as any other, and call this slaughter of 30,000 and displacement of 1.7 million people what it is: genocide happening before our eyes, of a population that is mostly children.”