Pro-Palestine activists in London demonstrate against ‘police crackdown on right to protest’
LONDON
Pro-Palestine demonstrators staged a rally Wednesday in London to “defend the right to protest” and demand police “drop the charges” against activists.
Gathering outside New Scotland Yard, the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the rally criticized the police treatment of pro-Palestine marches and activists since Oct. 7, 2023.
Criticizing the arrests of protesters, the rally, held by organizers of large pro-Palestine marches, including Palestine Solidarity Campaign, labelled the treatment as “political attacks.”
Carrying Palestinian flags, the crowd shouted slogans in solidarity with Palestinians, including: “Stop arming Israel” and “From the sea to the river Palestine will live forever.”
“We are here because the police have been harassing our Palestine movement since we started our national movement 19 months ago,” Chris Nineham, founding member and vice chair of the Stop the War Coalition, said at the rally.
He said it is only right that police drop all charges, release all the prisoners and “stop harassing a movement that has been vindicated.” Nineham added that it is a movement for justice, freedom and humanity.
Before the protest, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament urged people to join the protest against the police’s “crackdown on the right to protest, including the questioning and charging of the leaders of the Palestine Coalition.”
Protesters carried signs, some read: “Freedom for Palestine,” “Hands of Gaza,” and “Drop the charges.”
A group of pro-Palestine Jewish activists attended with signs that read: “Jews against ethnic cleansing.”
On Friday, an emergency protest will be held outside the Prime Minister’s Office at 10 Downing Street to demand that the government “Stop arming Israel.”
The Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive against the Gaza Strip since October 2023, killing nearly 53,700 Palestinians, most of them women and children.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
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