Crowds of people took over the streets of Brighton and Hove this afternoon in protest against the violence in the Gaza strip.

The giant march was a colourful spectacle as people waved the red, black, white and green Palestinian flag to raise awareness about the recent atrocities that have blighted the Middle Easter nation over the past few days.

It was organised by the Palestinian Society of Brighton and Hove who ensured the large scale demonstration remained peaceful by working with police who accompanied them on their route.

Organiser Rami Abusamra said: "This is a peaceful demonstration to raise awareness about the massacres taking place in the Gaza strip at the moment. 697 Palestinians were killed in cold blood and half of those have been women and children.

"Our position is that we are calling for the immediate end to the murder of people of Gaza – the Palestinian solidarity campaign is part of this on going protest."

Around 2000 people joined the demo which started in Palmeira Square in Hove at 1pm, then marched along Western Road in to Brighton, down North Street and on to its final destination of the Palace Pier at around 4pm where speeches on the issue of the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis in Gaza were given.

One onlooker said: "The crowd was so huge it took them around an hour and a half to get from Palmeira Square to North Street – people were holding banners which called for action to be taken to stop Israelis committing genocide. It was very dramatic event, it felt like the city was being taken over."

The march took place on the same day as Palestinian medical sources announced that 29 people were killed in Gaza and Israeli officials say at least 12 rockets were fired by Palestinian militants.

The recent string of attacks began on December 27 and an estimated 879 people have been killed since then.