Hundreds march along Oxford Road in latest pro-Palestine demonstration

Hundreds of pro-Palestine demonstrators have taken part in a march in Manchester today (May 18).

Protesters gathered at Platt Fields Park in Fallowfield this morning (Saturday) before marching along Wilmslow Road in Rusholme with Palestine flags and banners. Demonstrators then stopped at the University of Manchester, where students previously set up a Gaza protest camp at Brunswick Park on campus.

The campaigners are now continuing to march down Oxford Road and Oxford Street into Manchester city centre. Some traffic is being diverted away due to the protest blocking the road with bus services on a diversion route.

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In a post on X earlier, Stagecoach said: "All Wilmslow Road Services, 42's 42 a's b's & c's 43, 142, 143, 147, will be diverting via Platt Lane, Lloyd St and Booth St turning left onto Oxford Rd resuming normal route. This is to minimise impact to our services caused by the march in support of Palestinians."

Demonstrations have become a weekly occurrence in Greater Manchester over the past five months, amid conflict in the Middle East. Earlier this week, red paint was daubed on and around the historic entrance to the University of Manchester on Oxford Road in a suspected pro-Palestinian protest.

The protests come as MPs in Greater Manchester joined calls to let Palestinians seeking refuge from the war in Gaza into the UK. A petition proposing a Palestinian family visa scheme, similar to the one set up for Ukrainians, has been signed by thousands of people in the city-region.

Labour MP Afzal Khan, who saw hundreds of his constituents in Manchester Gorton sign the petition, said a family visa scheme is 'vital' to show people trapped