'Shocking!' Andrew Pierce fumes at schools as he tells them to 'stand up to pro-Palestine supporters' on Holocaust memorial day

Speaking on The People's Channel, Andrew said: "We saw the terrible attack on the synagogue last year, and my understanding of why so few schools are now marking Holocaust Memorial Day is because of concern that there will be protests outside schools by pro-Palestinian sympathisers, which I think is shocking.

"And I think the schools, frankly, should stand up to those protests."

His remarks come as today marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by Soviet forces.

Holocaust educator Noemie Lopian agreed: “I think the schools should stand up, but the schools aren’t geared to stand up.

"It has to come from higher. It has to come from our education ministry, from our school ministry, giving the schools the tools and the courage and the laws backing them to say this has to happen.

"This is about common human decency. This is what the basics of Holocaust teaching is about in primary school: to go with your inner conscience and not follow the crowd.”

Figures from the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust reveal a dramatic decline in school participation over recent years.

In 2023, more than 2,000 secondary schools across Britain held commemorative or educational events to mark the occasion.

That number fell to just under 1,200 in 2024, before dropping further to only 854 schools this year.

The decline represents a reduction of nearly 60 per cent in just two years, according to the charity, which was established by the UK Government to promote and support the annual memorial.

The country has approximately 4,200 secondary schools in total, meaning fewer than a quarter now participate in marking the day.

Prior to this downturn, observance of the memorial had been steadily increasing across the education sector.

The sharp decline in school participation coincides with the period following the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 2023 which triggered a surge in antisemitic incidents worldwide.

Holocaust Memorial Day falls on January 27 each year, commemorating the six million Jewish people murdered during the Holocaust alongside millions of others who perished under Nazi persecution.

This year's theme, "Bridging Generations", focuses on ensuring that remembrance continues beyond the generation of survivors and is passed to future generations.

Organisers stress that as time passes since the Holocaust, there is an increasing risk that memories of what occurred will fade.

The annual Light the Darkness campaign encourages people across the nation to place candles in their windows at 8pm to remember those who were killed.

Iconic buildings also participate by displaying purple lighting as a mark of solidarity and respect.