Thousands of people marched through the streets of London on Saturday to share their “extreme rage about the complete inaction of the international community” in face of the bloodshed taking place in Aleppo.
Activists carried Syrian flags and banners which read “save Aleppo”, “hand in hand with Aleppo” and “enough with Assad” as a means of prompting international action for the people currently stranded in the Syrian city.
Doctors and nurses also staged a ‘die-in’ outside the Houses of Parliament this afternoon in response to the impact the Syrian conflict is having on health workers and civilians.
The protest comes as a convoy carrying enough supplies to build a new children’s hospital in the war-torn country left London after more than £155,000 was donated in just 10 days.
The march began at Marble Arch, with protesters meeting at 12.30pm before heading towards White Hall where a rally was scheduled to take place.
The march was organised by the Syria Solidarity Campaign.
The event’s Facebook page reads: “Besieged Eastern #Aleppo is on the verge of falling to the Assad regime.
“Reports estimate about 98% of Eastern Aleppo is now under the control of the Assad regime and its allies.”
The event’s Facebook page urged supporters: “Join us to protest against the large-scale bombardments and targeting of civilians in Aleppo.
“There is a Holocaust ongoing and we urgently need the international community to take action to save lives.”
As the march headed through Picadilly Circus, demonstrators could be heard chanting “drop aid not bombs”.
Other signs along the march read “protect civilians” and “Aleppo’s the new Holocaust”.
Rolling road blocks were in place across the capital to accommodate the protest.
The Aleppo evacuation was suspended on Friday after a report of shooting at a crossing point into the enclave by both sides of the conflict. Thousands were evacuated before the process was suspended.
An agreement was reached on Saturday to allow “humanitarian cases” to leave two besieged government-held Shiite villages in northwestern Syria, a step that would allow the resumption of civilian and rebel evacuations from eastern Aleppo which were suspended a day earlier, the Associated Press reports.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the evacuation of some 4,000 people, including wounded, from the villages of Foua and Kfarya was expected to start Saturday.
It later reported that 29 buses were heading toward the two villages to start the evacuation process, adding that insurgents in the area rejected allowing 4,000 people to leave and saying they will only allow 400 people to be evacuated.
Earlier this week hundreds of young people gathered outside Downing Street calling for a ceasefire in Aleppo.