By Bongiwe Dlamini

MBABANE:Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer of the United Kingdom(UK), has urged students not to join pro-Palestinian protests on Tuesday-the second Anniversary of the 7 October Hamas attack on Israel, the British Broadcasting Corporation(BBC) reported on Tuesday.

Sir Keir said it was “un-British” to hold protests on the Anniversary which was previously used by some as a despicable excuse to attack British Jews.

The UK is seeing heightened security to protect Jewish communities, following last week's deadly attack on a synagogue in Manchester. 

But students from London colleges are planning a joint march in the capital, while Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Bristol are among other cities said to be expecting protests.

"Time does not diminish the evil we saw that day,” Sir Keir wrote in a piece for the Times newspaper's Tuesday edition.

Sir Keir said that while some have protested against the Israeli Government’s actions in Gaza, “others have used this as a despicable excuse to attack British Jews for something over which they have absolutely no responsibility".

"Let me just spell that out for a moment: people on our streets calling for the murder of Jewish people they have never even met, for something they are not responsible for. On the anniversary of the atrocities of October 7, students are once again planning protests.bThis is not who we are as a country. It’s un-British to have so little respect for others. And that’s before some of them decide to start chanting hatred towards Jewish people all over again”, he said.

Sir Keir stressed that the UK would "always stand tall and united” against those seeking to harm Jewish communities.

"Our Jewish communities have also endured rising antisemitism on our streets, in our country," he added.