Trafalgar Square

“Give it one day off out of respect!” The man, draped in the Union Jack, was addressing protesters in central London yesterday who had come out to support the proscribed terrorist group Palestine Action. Demonstrators have been showing up in force for the group since its proscription by the UK Government earlier this summer, but yesterday was particularly notable for coming two days after the attack on Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in Manchester which left two Jews dead. Despite pleas from the Prime Minister for the demonstration to be called off, close to 500 people were arrested for bearing placards which read “I Oppose Genocide. I Support Palestine Action.”

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley had also called for this scheduled protest to be cancelled in light of Thursday’s attack. Keir Starmer wrote on Saturday morning that “it is not a time to stoke tension and cause further pain. It is a time to stand together.”

However, this message was not welcomed by those in attendance. One of the organisers, Dan, said that he would “see [Starmer] in the Hague”. A young woman called Ali labelled the Prime Minister’s words “absolutely disgusting”, adding: “We care about both sides, we have the same solidarity for Jews and Muslims.” Another demonstrator, Paul, told me the Manchester attack was “awful” but that the “greater evil is being done by the Zionists and facilitated by the British Government”. Responding to the criticism from the Met, he argued: “They should use their resources better, rather than against anti-genocide protesters.”

Many of the protesters had been sitting down in Trafalgar Square yesterday, with some bringing chairs and mats to lie on while they waited to be carried away by police. The oldest person to be arrested was 89 years old. In some cases, up to seven officers were required to arrest a single demonstrator. The police are by now well-practised in this routine, having arrested over 400 people at a similar protest for Palestine Action last month. Yesterday, they created a large holding area near Canada House from which detainees were moved into police vans.

Tempers rose as the afternoon went on, but things never degenerated into violence. Cries of “shame” followed each group of officers moving to carry off their next detainee; at one point, “The Imperial March” from Star Wars was played. A speaker with a microphone shouted that the “IDF and the Met are cut from the same cloth”, though one policeman told a protester that “the atmosphere” had “improved” in comparison to previous demonstrations.

Still, the anger of those attending was palpable. The Muslim Home Secretary was a particular target for some, with one young woman holding a sign with the message: “We will win and Fuck you Shabana ‘Munafiq’”. In Islam, munafiq refers to someone who merely feigns religious belief.

There were isolated pockets of counter-protesters and self-styled independent journalists present, some of whom sought to instigate a response from Palestine Action supporters. Streamer Danny Tommo, who the Times has described as “Tommy Robinson’s right-hand man”, chanted “Free Palestine from Hamas” and was moved on by the police after a minor scuffle with protesters late in the afternoon.

As evening arrived, the crowds began to thin and the police became more active. A constant stream of officers moved back and forth to detain those supporting the banned group. While the likes of the Socialist Workers Party and Islamic organisation Cage International were represented on the day, most of those in Trafalgar Square were individual pro-Gaza protesters, as well as a few bystanders who belatedly decided to get involved once they saw the Palestine flags.

As the crowds finally cleared and the last holdouts were escorted away by the police, it was clear that the Prime Minister’s words had been roundly rejected. One student in attendance summarised the prevailing mood: “Palestine doesn’t get a break.”

---

Jack Davey is a freelance writer. He writes on Substack.

jacques_davey

---