Cambridge Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Cambridge Stop the War held a vigil on Saturday (06/09) outside the Guildhall for those who have lost their lives in the Israel-Gaza conflict. 

This followed an earlier demonstration last Sunday (31/08) by Cambridge for Palestine.

This Saturday, over 20 individuals stood outside the Guildhall in rows holding boards, showed an Instagram post by @cambridgestopthewar.

Each board featured photos, names, and biographies of journalists, children, and other individuals killed in Gaza.

The Instagram post stated the vigil was to remember “the journalists who have honoured their lives to show the world the truth”. 

The vigil utilised images from the Gaza Faces, not Just Numbers campaign which has documented personal stories of those killed in the conflict. The post featured a video of the individuals, and finished with the text “not just a number”. 

On Sunday (31/08), both local residents and students gathered in the town centre to demonstrate support for the Global Movement to Gaza, and the Global Sumud Flotilla. 

An Instagram post by @cambridgeforpalestine showed groups of people, both adults and children, walking through Senate House Passage waving Palestine flags.

The group then launched paper boats into the River Cam from the bottom of Garret Hostel Bridge (colloquially known as ‘Orgasm Bridge’).

An Instagram post by @cambridge_artists_4_palestine stated about the solidarity demonstration: “We walked together, carrying red, white & green flowers, olive branches from the last standing olive tree of the Oxford & Cambridge student encampment, and launched paper boats into the river as part of the Global Sumud Flotilla.”

The group then stood along the bridge, having strung Palestinian flags across it.

The Global Sumud Flotilla is a campaign launched by multiple organisations, primarily as part of the Global Movement to Gaza which organises global action in support of Palestine.

The Flotilla aims “to break the illegal siege on Gaza by sea” and have multiple boats set sail from multiple countries across the world – so far over 44 have sailed.

This comes after the UK Government recently agreed to support Gazan students take up scholarship places at UK Universities.

Their decision followed demands to the Government throughout the UK earlier this month, including an open letter from the Cambridge SU to the Government, and from activist group Cambridge for Palestine to the new University Chancellor.