Police ratchet up harassment of January 18 demonstrators
JVL Introduction
The Metropolitan Police crackdown on protestors who took part in a pro-Palestinian demonstration in London on January 18 continues apace, with more individuals being called in for questioning. Those caught in the net now include actor Khalid Abdalla and 87-year-old Holocaust survivor Stephen Kapos.
Abdalla posted on X : “The right to protest is under attack in this country and it requires us all to defend it.”
A statement from the Palestine coalition, which has organised the many huge national Gaza demonstrations in London, insisted “that the Metropolitan Police respects the right to protest and that it ceases to take instruction from those who are determined to back Israel’s genocidal actions, to maintain British state support for them, and to drive our movement off the streets.”
Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this post was temporarily removed. We hope soon to be able to share a statement from Holocaust survivors and descendants.
NWI
This article was originally published by Palestine Coalition on Mon 3 Mar 2025. Read the original here.
Palestine Coalition Statement: Police repression of 18 January protest
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A far-right sponsored government aiming for a police state!!
When those charged appear in court and, as such, the evidence is produced – along with witnesses – to show that the police stitched them up, then not only should the Met be sued big time, but those behind it should be forced to resign.
Outrageous – I was there but left just before the arrests began, my companion having spotted the Territorial Support Group vans and knowing them to be seriously nasty, we exited pursued not by bears but a rumour of something worse. We were allowed through and it was only afterwards that I became aware of the treatment of the descendants of Holocaust Survivors Group who had always been very welcome presences at our demonstrations. Their treatment at the hands of the police was totally unjustified and incontrovertible evidence of how wrong our present government’s attitude to the regime in Israel is.