London  - Thousands of people took to the streets of London and other British cities Saturday to protest the Israeli raids on the Gaza Strip.

Estimates of those taking part in the demonstration in London ranged between 6,000 and 10,000. Witnesses said around 1,000 shoes were thrown at the fence protecting the Downing Street entrance to the residence of Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

The shoe-hurling - an extreme insult in Arab culture - was reminiscent of that by an Iraqi reporter targeting US President George W Bush at a press conference in Baghdad last month.

Protests took place in 17 other cities including Manchester (which 2,000 people demonstrating) as well as Edinburgh, Glasgow, Portsmouth and Hull. More than 30 Muslim, peace and artist groups organized the protests which saw demonstrators wave Palestinian flags and shout anti-Israel slogans.

According to a Downing Street spokesman, the British prime minister telephoned Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and called for an immediate ceasefire, saying that missile fire by the Gaza Strip's radical Hamas factor as well as the Israeli military action had to end. (dpa)