Liv West with Yael Kahn, members of Islington Palestine Solidarity, outside the Town Hall on Thursday

THERE were tears inside the Town Hall last Thursday as politicians voted to ask Islington MPs Jeremy Corbyn and Emily Thornberry to call for a ceasefire to fighting in Palestine.

Councillor Roulin Khondoker, executive member for equalities, culture and inclusion, led the call for peace, at times removing her glasses to wipe away tears as the rest of the Town Hall fell silent.

Speaking on the day the menorah lights at Islington Green were vandalised, she said: “The atrocities we have witnessed through our screens from afar has been nothing short of devastating and heartbreaking. I cannot begin or pretend to imagine the true horror and devastation if one were there.

Islington North MP Jeremy Corbyn spoke at the event

“Sadly, there has been a vast increase in the number of hate crime incidents in London, including in Islington, since the start of this conflict primarily of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.”

Islington passed a motion to write to prime minister Rishi Sunak and Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer and ask them to call for a ceasefire.

The council meeting followed an earlier protest on the Town Hall steps by the pressure group Islington Palestine Solidarity, where speakers lined up to criticise Ms Thornberry for abstaining from a ceasefire vote in parliament in November.

In a cross-party motion that was brought by both Islington Labour and the Green Party, migrants champion ​Councillor Ilkay Cinko-Oner – who had earlier joined with the protest outside – said she was “sorry and ashamed it has taken over nine weeks for us to speak out as a council”.

She said: “I wish to say to the Palestinian people, I see you, I hear you, and in our thousands and millions we are all Palestinians.”