Saturday, October 05, 2024

How Gaza sparked the biggest UK protest movement in recent history – and a headache for the police

Lizzie Dearden
THE GUARDIAN
Sat 5 October 2024 

Police officers intervene amid clashes during a demonstration in support of Palestinians in Gaza, ahead of the October 7 attack anniversary.Photograph: Chris J Ratcliffe/Reuters

When the Palestine Solidarity Campaign organised its first protest against Israel’s bombing campaign in Gaza, days after Hamas’ deadly terror attacks on 7 October 2023, leaders expected the conflict to be over within weeks.

“I remember saying to my staff ‘we are probably going to need to be responding to this through marches until potentially Christmas’,” recalls director Ben Jamal. “I didn’t see beyond that.”

His calculations were based on previous conflicts in the Gaza Strip. In 2021’s crisis, Israeli bombing and Hamas rocket fire lasted for 11 days, while the 2014 war continued for seven weeks, and 2012 saw eight days of bloodshed before a ceasefire was reached.


But after a year, the current war shows no sign of stopping and is instead spreading to Lebanon and threatening to escalate further following Iran’s ballistic missile attack on Israel.

Protests in Britain look set to expand in response: the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) march on 5 October in London incorporated the slogans “hands off Lebanon” and “no Middle East war”. It was attended by tens of thousands of people.

The Metropolitan police said it appeared to have a higher turnout than recent demonstrations demanding a ceasefire in Gaza, which have become smaller and less frequent since a peak last November.

But with thousands of people still attending PSC marches roughly every three weeks, both the campaign group and Scotland Yard agree that it is the biggest protest movement seen in recent British history – outstripping the historic 2010 student protests and 2003 anti-Iraq war demonstrations.

The Met assistant commissioner Matt Twist says the past year has been “the busiest period in terms of protests that we’ve ever had”, with major demonstrations “happening at a much higher tempo than we’ve ever seen before”.

Related: Tens of thousands join pro-Palestinian protest in London

“As well as the [pro-Palestinian] marches, we now see counter protests, and then we’ve had the growth in what I would call cultural nationalists, or some people characterise as the right wing, which have also been presenting an additional resourcing demand,” he adds.

“We’re concerned about the widening and deepening of the conflict and what the implications are for this country, and for London in particular, across a range of issues. Our planning assumption is that these protests will continue.”

The Met has organised its response to all protests related to the Israel-Gaza war under the codename “Operation Brocks”, which has so far cost £46.8m and involved 60,000 shifts by local officers and 9,600 by those loaned from forces outside London.

The bulk of resources have gone into the 20 national marches so far called by the PSC, although numerous smaller demonstrations have taken place across London, organised by a range of groups and figures supporting opposing sides in the conflict.

“The cost has been enormous,” Twist says. “The financial cost is one thing, but the opportunity cost for London is another, because those officers are pulled from local policing in the main – so it means they’re not doing other things.”

Police have counted more than 2,600 protests nationally linked to the Israel-Gaza war, and the National Police Chiefs’ Council called its response “one of the longest and most resource-intensive policing operations in recent history”.

In London, 404 arrests had been made at protests by the end of June but only 14% had resulted in a charge, analysis by the Observer shows, with 45% of cases remaining under investigation, while over a third resulted in no further action.

The largest number of arrests made in a single day was on 11 November 2023, when disorder broke out among far-right protesters claiming to protect war memorials against a regular PSC protest that fell on Armistice Day.

The majority of crimes recorded by police under Operation Brocks as a whole have been breach of the peace and public order offences, but there have also been numerous alleged assaults on officers and seven arrests on suspicion of inviting support for a terrorist group.

In February, two women were convicted of terror offences for wearing images of Hamas militants entering Israel on paragliders on 7 October during the PSC protest a week later.

By the end of June, more than 50 arrests had also been made for hate crimes at protests, including religiously aggravated public order offences and stirring up racial hatred.

Suella Braverman, then the Home Secretary, characterised the PSC’s protests as “hate marches” and was sacked by Rishi Sunak after writing an article accusing the Met of applying a “double standard”, claiming right-wing protesters were “rightly met with a stern response”, while “pro-Palestinian mobs” were “largely ignored”.

Twist rejects claims of two-tier policing as “nonsense”, adding: “It’s become a useful soundbite for those who seek to criticise and undermine without adding constructively to the debate. We police without fear or favour, according to the law as it is – not as people might wish it to be.”

He says the legal threshold for banning marches, which is serious disorder, has never been met and the Met is not pushing for any new laws or increased powers.
But he adds that while “the overwhelming majority of people who attend [PSC protests] do so peacefully and in a good-natured way, it is also true to say that the marches place the Jewish community in fear”.

“We have seen an unusually high incidence of offences linked to the Terrorism Act, in terms of supporting a proscribed organisation, and we have made arrests at almost every march linked to racial or religious hatred,” Twist says.

Jamal accuses critics of disproportionate focus on a “handful of placards” and “unacceptable” chants by small groups of people in thousands-strong crowds.
“The number of people being arrested on these demonstrations is very, very low,” he adds.

“With the individuals, of course we look at if we are seeing any patterns or something problematic. But what we get is a handful of things that happen that do not speak to the vast majority.”

The PSC has rejected criticism of contested slogans, such as “from the river to the sea”, and denies that its marches are making the Jewish community less safe.
“Every single march we’ve had hundreds, sometimes thousands, of Jewish people marching in an organised Jewish block to say ‘we do not agree with what the state of Israel is doing’,” Jamal says. “They have always been warmly welcomed.”

But Jewish safety charity the Community Security Trust, which has been monitoring an increase in antisemitic incidents since the start of the Israel-Gaza war, believes the number of arrests for hate crimes and terror offences indicate a “problematic pattern of behaviour”.

Dave Rich, the charity’s director of policy, says protests have been causing central London synagogues to cancel events and made Jewish people fear visiting the capital.
“If [Jewish] people want to go on these marches that’s fine, but the vast majority of Jewish people don’t fancy coming out of a synagogue and watch 10,000 people marching past calling Israel genocidal baby-killers,” he adds.

The charity is now concerned that as the conflict continues, protests could “spin off into smaller, hardline, direct action” that would be harder for police to control and “has more violent potential”.

While the CST has been advocating for greater restrictions on the timing and route of PSC demonstrations, Jamal says police have been imposing “torturous” conditions under the Public Order Act.

Meanwhile, Twist believes police are “getting it about right” to minimise disruption and balance competing rights.

“One side will say we’re doing too much, and the other side might say we’re not doing enough,” he adds. “It’s a difficult balance and it’s hotly contested. The protest picture has become more febrile, the world seems to be more polarised.”

Watch: Pro-Palestine supporters march through London to mark one year of Israel-Hamas conflict

Holly Patrick
Sat 5 October 2024

Watch live as pro-Palestine supporters marched through central London on Saturday, 5 October, to mark one year of the Israel-Hamas conflict that began with the October 7 attack in 2023.

A demonstration organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and other groups gathered at Russell Square to march to Whitehall where there will be speeches.

A counter-protest, organised by Stop The Hate, also took place.


On Sunday afternoon, a memorial event will be held in Hyde Park, organised by the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the Jewish Leadership Council and other groups.

The Metropolitan Police said it was unaware of any significant public events taking place on Monday, the anniversary of the attacks.


Thousands march in London in support of Palestinians, 1 year after Oct 7

AFP
Sat 5 October 2024 

Pro-ceasefire supporters from across the UK marched from Russell Square to Downing Street 
 (JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP/AFP)

Thousands of protesters marched through central London on Saturday calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon as the war in the Palestinian territory neared the one-year mark.

Pro-Palestinian supporters from across the country began the march from Russell Square to Downing Street demanding an end to the conflict, which has killed nearly 42,000 people in Gaza;

At Saturday's 20th "National March for Palestine" in London, familiar chants -- "ceasefire now", "stop bombing hospitals, stop bombing civilians" and "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" -- were joined by shouts of "hands off Lebanon".

The rally came ahead of the one-year anniversary of the October 7 attack in Israel by fighters from Palestinian group Hamas which resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Israel's retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,825 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures provided by the territory's health ministry and described as reliable by the United Nations.

Zackerea Bakir, 28, said he has attended dozens of marches around the Uk.

Large numbers continue to turn up because "everyone wants a change", Bakir told AFP.

"It's continuing to just get worse and worse, and yet nothing seems to be changing... I think it's tiring that we have to continue to come out," said Bakir, joined at the rally by his mother and brother.

- Policing operation -

Several protesters carried posters reading "Starmer has blood on his hands".

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has called for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages held by Hamas, as well as suspended some arms licences to Israel.

However, many at the rally said it was not enough.

Sophia Thomson, 27, found the Labour government's stance "hypocritical".

According to Thomson, the size of the protests "goes to show the government doesn't speak for the people".

"It's not good enough. It's not good enough," added Bakir, calling for the government to "stop giving a carte blanche of support to the Israeli government".

London's Metropolitan police put in place a "significant" policing operation ahead of planned protests and memorial events.

While the rally was largely peaceful, two were arrested for assaulting an emergency worker, according to the Met.

Three others were arrested as tensions rose between the main march and a counter protest.

While exact numbers at the demonstration were unclear, "it appears to be greater than other recent protests", the Met said on X.

Another rally also took place simultaneously in the Irish capital, Dublin.

A memorial for the October 7 attack will be held in London on Sunday.

aks/gil

Thousands attend pro-Palestine demonstration in Edinburgh

Sarah Ward, PA Scotland
Sat 5 October 2024 

Thousands of people have joined a pro-Palestine demonstration in Edinburgh ahead of the anniversary of the October 7 attacks in Israel.

The event was organised by Scottish Friends of Palestine and the Gaza Genocide Emergency Committee, with a silent march planned to commemorate all civilians killed.

Organisers called for a ceasefire and for the UK and Scottish governments to impose sanctions on Israel after a recent Oxfam report said 11,000 children have been killed in Gaza – more than any conflict in 18 years, based on UN data.

Activists showed support for one million people who fled southern Lebanon following an Israeli invasion and air strikes, according to Oxfam statistics.

Former first minister Humza Yousaf attended the rally.



The event was organised by Scottish Friends of Palestine and the Gaza Genocide Emergency Committee (Lesley Martin/PA)

Gerry Coutts, 60, a teacher from Glasgow, helped to organise the protest for Scottish Friends of Palestine and said he had never seen as many families attending as in the past year.

Mr Coutts said: “The number of children killed has been higher than any conflict in two decades according to Oxfam, with 6,000 women and 11,000 children killed in Gaza by the Israel Defence Force (IDF).

“Gaza is around the same size as the greater Glasgow area. The report doesn’t mention the number of children who have lost a limb, but about 25,000 children have been orphaned or lost a parent.

“The worrying thing is that the pattern the Israeli military has used in Gaza is now unfolding in Lebanon.

“Many of the civilians are Syrian refugees and Palestinian refugees born in Lebanon who do not have citizenship. Palestinians are not even second-class citizens, they do not have citizenship anywhere.

“Statistically, homes in Gaza are being bombed every four hours on average, tents are being bombed every 17 hours on average, schools and hospitals bombed every four days on average, and aid distribution points targeted.

“It is not a normal conflict. We don’t teach that there were ‘two sides’ to apartheid – we look at international law. With apartheid, we didn’t want the destruction of white people – we wanted a just society, for everybody.”

He said younger people were increasingly turning out to demonstrate.

A silent march was held to commemorate all civilians killed (Lesley Martin/PA)

Mr Coutts said: “I think young people are saying to their parents ‘I want to go’ – that’s been a new thing this year. You can see children are being bombed.

“Social media has changed it a lot – it’s the first time we’ve seen a genocide livestreamed. We are seeing it carried out by a sophisticated military with sophisticated weapons, and livestreamed.

“Even Bush and Regan, when Israel stepped over the line, stopped them – the same with the UK. Not any more.

“We all condemn all attacks on civilians.”

Maree Shepherd, of Show Israel the Red Card, called for the country to be “suspended from world forums” including world sport, and for hostages to be released.

Co-organiser David Myles, from Scottish Friends of Palestine, said: “Political leaders cannot claim to be working towards peace while they arm Israel, accused by the International Court of Justice of plausible genocide.

“Pro-Palestinian protests have continued to grow and show no sign of slowing down, because governments are out of step with the demands of the public.

“While we call for a ceasefire, governments have responded with increased funding and support for Israel and its military action. This must stop.”


300,000 rage against Israel’s genocide and warmongering in London

As the front of the march reached Downing Street, the back was still near the assembly point


Defiance on the London Palestine march (Picture: Guy Smallman)

By Socialist Worker journalists
Saturday 05 October 2024

At least 300,000 protesters streamed through central London on Saturday on the 20th national demonstration for Palestine in the past 12 months. Palestinian and Lebanese flags and chants filled the air as protesters raged at Israel’s ongoing genocide in Palestine and warmongering across the Middle East.

Israel has killed nearly 2,000 people in Lebanon over the past year. Mustapha from Lebanon said, “I’ve been protesting about this for decades since 2006 when Israel invaded Lebanon before.

“It’s been 76 years of occupation in Palestine but we can’t give up hope. The British government is the reason Israel exists and I want them to stop sending arms.”

Sheryl from Cardiff said, “If you look at it, of course the US is in the middle of it all. If anyone else other than Israel did the pagers attacks on Hezbollah and Lebanese citizens, there would be hell to pay. But not for Israel.

“The United States says that Iran shouldn’t escalate, but what about Binyamin Netanyahu? What about Israel, which started this whole conflict? Iran isn’t escalating—it’s retaliating,” she added.

“Israel is going into Lebanon to grab more land. In Lebanon, Hezbollah was doing such a good job at standing up to Israel. But the West labelled them as terrorists, and now people are standing up for Israel—it’s disgraceful.”

Sheryl stressed, “If you enclose someone and abuse them, then they have to resist. I’m pro-resistance.”

The demonstration came two days ahead of the anniversary of 7 October, marking one year of Israeli’s genocide, Palestinian resistance and international solidarity. Majid from Palestine said, “We have been on most of the protests—I’m here because I have family in Gaza.”

Ellie added, “We won’t stop until the genocide stops. We just want to say enough is enough. Stop killing children.

“We want the world to know what is going on. I don’t know that Israel is unstoppable—I think they are overreaching now.”

After a year of Israel’s genocide, some protesters had been consistently marching in solidarity with Palestine. Mary from Kent said that “the anniversary is important because we have to let people know history didn’t start on 7 October”.

“This has been happening for decades, and the encroachment into the West Bank is just the next phase,” she said.

“The movement in Britain is important because the United States is the main culprit, but we sell them arms too. I’m shocked that they only suspended 30 out of 350 arms contracts.

“I think Israel is ideologically defeated. It has proven it’s a terror state, and its reputation has been so harmed there’s no going back.”

Mary added that she had previously supported a “two state solution”, which would keep an Israeli settler colonial state in tact. “But now I think it doesn’t make sense,” she said. “I think there should be one secular state for everyone. Palestinians have the right to return and get their land back.”

Idris from Stoke has come to every national demonstration. “Every single time we have raised our voices to demand the government stops arming Israel,” he said. “Labour is the same as the Conservatives. Governments change, but the foreign policy stays the same.”

He added, “The war is spreading now, it’s all over the region—we have to keep up the pressure.”

Protester Kerry said, “I’ve been on a lot of protests and I’ve been to Hebron in Palestine and seen what it’s like.

“I keep marching, writing to my MP and going to talks to educate myself but I feel powerless. What can be done until the US stops arming Israel? Anything the British government does will only be symbolic.”


Palestine: one year on
Read More

Al from Romford in east London urged the movement to keep going, saying, “I can’t believe we are still marching after a year. But what else can we do but keep marching?”

Israel’s genocide and warmongering in the Middle East brought new people to the demonstration. One protester said, “I’ve never been on a demonstration before. I didn’t even really know what to do.

“I’ve always been political but never active. But with what Israel is doing, now is the time to do something. This movement is important and anyone who thinks what Israel is doing is wrong needs to get out to demonstrations.”


‘There’s no future for Zionism in our region’—interview with Ghada Karmi
Read More

Jorge from the United States said, “This is the first of these protests I’ve been on. I wanted to come here to support my friend who is from Lebanon. It’s scary. It looks like what is happening in the Middle East could break out into a proper war.”

There was a strong trade union presence on the London Palestine march. Chad Croom from the CWU communication workers’ union said, “This is a working class issue. If trade unionists can’t come out and raise their voice against injustice then we can’t communicate the same message to our members.

“We have to show we are on the same side as people facing injustice around the world. We need to put pressure on our governments to stop arming Israel.

“This also makes it a workers issue as trade unionists represent the workers making those arms.”

The demonstration rallied outside Downing Street to target the Labour government.

From the stage, Lindsey German from Stop The War said, “It is obscene that Joe Biden is discussing with Netanyahu whether to bomb nuclear facilities or oil refineries in Iran. They don’t care about Palestinian lives.”

She urged protesters to attend the 26 October Stand Up To Racism demonstration in London against fascist Tommy Robinson.

Former Scottish first minister Humza Yousaf said, “We’ve had 365 days of bloodshed. 365 days of children being killed. 365 days of babies deprived of hospital care. 365 days of the complete failure of the international community to uphold international law.

“Keir Starmer addressed the nation when Israel was attacked—where was the address for the children of Gaza? Where was the address for the people of Lebanon? Some say these double standards are hypocrisy. But it’s worse—it’s racism.”

Palestinian ambassador Husam Zomlot said, “I have a message for Israel. When you bomb a country, you lose. When you invade a country, you lose. Every time you attack a country, you lose.

“Israel has one strategy—violence. The message from Gaza, from Rafah, from Nablus, from Jenin and from Beirut is that we are not defeated. No bombs and assassinations can kill people’s desire to be free.”

Leanne Mohammed—who almost defeated Labour’s Wes Streeting in the general election—said, “Labour, Conservative, Democrat, Republican, they all support the military industrial complex.

“To those in the US—in the heart of the evil empire—I say vote for a third party. Send a message to Kamala Harris—don’t let them scare you into rubber stamping their support for genocide.”

The demonstration shows the immense vitality of the Palestine movement—and its determination to break the British government’s complicity with Israel’s genocide.

The next stop is the workplace day of action on Thursday, 10 October, to demand a ceasefire. The call was backed by the TUC union federation’s congress last month.

Everyone has to keep driving its roots deeper into the working class movement. Let’s keep up action on the streets, workplaces and campuses against Israel’s genocide and warmongering—and against its Western imperialist backers.
How many Palestine demonstrations have people been on?

Socialist Worker carried out a mass survey asking people how many national demonstrations they have been on:

1st demonstration: 9 percent

2nd demonstration: 7 percent

3rd demonstration: 6 percent

4th demonstration: 8 percent

5th demonstration: 7 percent

6th demonstration: 4 percent

7th demonstration: 4 percent

8th demonstration: 5 percent

9th demonstration: 4 percent

10th demonstration: 5 percent

11th demonstration: 3 percent

12th demonstration: 4 percent

13th demonstration: 3 percent

14th demonstration: 3 percent

15th demonstration: 5 percent

16th demonstration: 5 percent

17th demonstration: 4 percent

18th demonstration: 3 percent

19th demonstration: 4 percent

20th demonstration: 7 percent
Palestine: one year on

We are publishing analysis and interviews with Palestinians and people in the solidarity movement every day in the run-up to the one-year anniversary of 7 October: How Israel’s war on Gaza showed the West’s weakness Far from revealing superiority, the West’s backing for Israel’s genocidal war reflects its declining power and its loss of moral authority
‘Condemn Israel, not the Palestinians’: Ibitsam from Gaza
‘My back felt broken, I was buried under rubble’ Palestinian journalist Alaa Salamah spoke to two young people in Gaza
‘A new generation understands what Israel is’—interview with Tariq Ali
Don’t forget that Palestinians ‘humbled Israel’ Ramsis Kilani, a Palestinian activist and revolutionary socialist in Germany, on resistance in the Middle East—and the challenges facing the solidarity movement in Germany
‘We’ll keep marching as long as Israel’s genocide continues’ An interview with Lindsey German, convenor of the Stop The War Coalition, one of the organisers of the mass demonstrations for Palestine.
‘We can learn from South African struggle’—interview with Andrew Feinstein He spoke about his independent campaign against Keir Starmer in the general election and where next for the Palestine movement
Palestine: A history of horror and resistance Palestinians have maintained steadfast opposition to violence and repression for over a hundred years. Phil Marfleet tells their inspiring story
‘There’s no future for Zionism in our region’—interview with Ghada Karmi

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