Pro-Palestine protestors shut off a city centre road with an impromptu march against the intensifying conflict in the Middle East.

More than 100 protesters are estimated to shut off North Street in Brighton on Saturday with an impromptu march.

The protest, organised by the Brighton and Hove Palestine Solidarity Campaign and University of Sussex’s Friends of Palestine Society, was one of dozens organised around the world this weekend against Israeli airstrikes in Gaza which have claimed more than 150 lives in less than a week.

The campaign was launched in response to the kidnapping and murder of three Jewish students last month and the firing of rockets into Israel.

The protesters met at the Old Steine War Memorial in Brighton at 11am on Saturday before deciding to make an impromptu march up to Churchill Square and back which brought traffic to a standstill.

A spokesman for the Palestine Solidarity Campaign said: “It still surprises me how many people don’t know what is going on out there.

“They might know something about bombs but have no idea that 150 people have died and don’t know the background to it.

“We are hopeful this and other protests will put pressure on the British government and MPs to come out and put their head above the parapet and condemn the air strikes.

“It also shows people in Gaza that they are not alone, we were getting tweets from people in Gaza and they were retweeting our photos of the march.”

For more information visit www.brightonpalestinecampaign.org.