Far-left and pro-Palestinian activist groups are calling on British students and workers to stage mass demonstrations and classroom walkouts next month, raising fears that the violent unrest engulfing France and spreading across Europe could be replicated in the United Kingdom.
The so-called International Youth Day of Action is scheduled for Friday, 20 November, with a major demonstration advertised for Trafalgar Square in central London and additional protests planned in Manchester, Liverpool, Bristol and Leicester. Socialist, anarchist and anti-war activists are urging schoolchildren and university students to join the international ‘youth strike’.
Heidi Bachram on X (formerly Twitter): “A British student group called “Youth Strike” is planning a Day of Action on November 20th and they posted a promotional video for it filmed at the France riots. He tells the youth to “fight back” while smoke billows behind him. They want a riot here too. pic.twitter.com/7OWAvK3xiy / X”
A British student group called “Youth Strike” is planning a Day of Action on November 20th and they posted a promotional video for it filmed at the France riots. He tells the youth to “fight back” while smoke billows behind him. They want a riot here too. pic.twitter.com/7OWAvK3xiy
Among the organizations promoting the mobilization are SOAS Liberated Zone, the pro-Palestinian activist network associated with Britain’s longest-running university encampment, International Youth Strike and Cardiff Students Against Cuts. The campaign is also supported by Socialist Students, while Left Brain UK, the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network and Europe Palestine Network have signed a joint statement endorsing the action.
Organizers are demanding increased government spending on education and employment, cuts to defence expenditure and greater support for Palestine. Their manifesto also calls for NATO’s dissolution and opposition to capitalism, militarization and the political right. A promotional statement urges supporters to ‘rise against imperialism, capitalism, authoritarianism and the far right’.
The organizers have openly praised the wave of protests sweeping across Europe, despite demonstrations in France, Belgium and Italy descending into violent riots, widespread looting and attacks on police. ‘We are proud to join the incredible movement’ spreading across these countries, the groups declared. In France, masked far-left militants have clashed with security forces, set public buildings ablaze and ransacked shops, while similar scenes of destruction have unfolded in Brussels, Liège and Milan.
The prospect of importing such unrest into Britain has raised alarm, particularly after some social media users openly encouraged more confrontational tactics, with one questioning whether the London demonstration would be ‘France style’ rather than another police-approved peaceful protest.
The scale of the violence and destruction caused by these riots has forced European governments to introduce increasingly severe security measures. In France, around 2,400 people were arrested over the weekend, prompting authorities to impose overnight curfews in several major cities. On Tuesday, police detained a 40-year-old far-left extremist over the devastating arson attack on Limoges Town Hall, with anti-terrorism investigators joining the case. President Emmanuel Macron has faced mounting criticism over his handling of the unrest.
In Belgium, authorities reported 194 arrests in Liège during the first week of October and temporarily banned gatherings of more than three people. In Milan, police took 271 people into custody for questioning following the weekend’s disturbances, including 220 minors, with 32 formally arrested. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government is preparing tougher security measures, including the deployment of 500 soldiers with police powers to Milan.
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