Hundreds of students are set to take to the streets in central London today as pro-Palestine marches are held on the third anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 attacks.

The Metropolitan Police said the force could not ban a protest planned in the capital but repeated a plea to demonstrators to not go ahead with it.

Andy Burnham has meanwhile assured the British Jewish community “we stand with you” against antisemitism three years after the deadly attack on Israel by Hamas militants that triggered the devastating war in Gaza.

The decision to march in support of Palestine on Wednesday has faced some backlash, with Jewish student leaders calling the planned protests “outrageous”.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner James Harman, who leads Met Operations including public order policing, said the event’s date “will be a day of mourning and reflection for many in London”, and acknowledged the “serious concerns that this event has caused Jewish communities in particular”.

He added: “I would like to take this opportunity – again – to call on anyone intending to join this march to please reflect on the impact and distress it will cause on this very significant date, and exercise your right to protest on a different day.”

The Met has imposed strict conditions on the central London march, including requiring the group to form up at Lincoln’s Inn Fields by 12.30pm, take a set route to Russell Square, and complete the rally by 2pm.

Pro-Palestine rallies led by student societies are also due to take place at Edinburgh and Glasgow universities on Wednesday afternoon.

Education Secretary Lucy Powell has called on students planning to protest on university campuses “to show compassion and respect for others by moving it” to another date.

The protests come after the Green Party passed a controversial motion to define Zionism as racism, with the party’s leader, Zack Polanski, barred from Israel after the new policy was confirmed.

Two senior Rabbis said the motion was “antisemitic in its formulation and intention”.

Rabbi Charley Baginsky and Rabbi Josh Levy said: “By adopting it, the Green Party has made antisemitism party policy and become a racist party.”

Three years ago, the attacks on October 7 saw Hamas-led militants invade Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking more than 250 others hostage.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews will hold a vigil in Richmond Terrace, just off Whitehall, on Wednesday afternoon.

Its president, Phil Rosenberg, said: “Three years on, the awful events of October 7 stand as one of the most tragic days for our Jews around the world. The Hamas terrorist massacre inflicted profound suffering and enduring trauma.

“We will gather in central London to honour the victims with dignity and resolve.”

Marking the third anniversary, the Prime Minister described a rise in antisemitic behaviour in the UK since 2023 as “disturbing”, but pledged his Government is “committed to protecting our citizens from vile hatred”.

Data from the Community Security Trust (CST), published in August, suggested antisemitism in the UK spiked in the immediate aftermath of the US and Israel launching their war on Iran and following a double stabbing of two visibly Jewish men in London.

The CST, which monitors antisemitism, said its research showed there were 1,926 antisemitic incidents recorded across the UK in January to June of 2026 – up by a fifth on the first half of last year and the second-highest total reported to the CST in the first six months of any year.

This was exceeded only by the 2,019 incidents recorded in the first half of 2024 – which followed the 2023 Hamas attacks and Israel’s subsequent war in Gaza.

The Palestinian death toll in the past three years surpassed 74,000 last month, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government.