Hundreds of children are poised to walk out of school today in protest over Israeli military strikes.
Pupils across the city of Bristol are set to skip school to take part in the ‘School Strike for Palestine’ demonstration.
The event calls on youngsters to ‘protest for the thousands of Palestinian children killed + injured by the Israeli Military strikes’.
The protest will also call on MPs for the city to ‘demand an immediate ceasefire’.
A Facebook page set up to organise the event reads: ‘If you don’t have children in your life but want to support kids at the protest, or have children but can’t for whatever reason bring them, also please come along too.
Thousands of Pro-Palestine protesters gathered in Bristol on October 14 and school students in the city will have their own march today
Tory MP Miriam Cates says the school protest plans are ‘hugely concerning’ and raised ‘serious questions about what is being taught in our schools’
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The impromptu strike echoes those spearheaded by Greta Thunberg in 2020, which saw children around the world leave their classrooms as part of a climate protest.
Protests took place across the UK, including in Bristol where Ms Thunberg led tens of thousands in a march through the city centre.
Concerns about the protest have already been raised in some sectors, including Tory MP Miriam Cates.
The conservative politician said: ‘Given the increasingly apparent cost to children of missing out on education, it is hugely concerning to hear of these plans for children to miss school.
‘It is especially alarming that children are being drawn into a political campaign against Western values and heritage. We need to ask serious questions about what is being taught in our schools.’
The Department for Education was contacted for comment.
Pro-Palestine activists are set to march through the streets of London at the same time the Festival of Remembrance is being held at the Royal Albert Hall next week.
Protesters have descended on the capital in support of Palestine over the past three Saturdays – and this is set to continue on November 11.
In Bristol, between 3,000 and 5,000 people took to the streets on Sunday, October 28, to show support for the people of Palestine.
Earlier that same week in the south west, Palestinian supporters shouted ‘boycott McDonald’s’ as they gather outside a branch in the city, accusing the fast food chain of ‘killing innocent people’.