Supporters of Israel face off with pro-Palestine protesters at Barclays bank demonstration
SUPPORTERS of Israel confronted pro-Palestinian activists in central London yesterday as protests over the war in Gaza took place around the country. Police penned in both sets of demonstrators as they faced off outside a Barclays bank shouting slogans.
Pro-Palestinian marchers targeted several branches of Barclays in towns and cities across the UK, calling for an end to the sale of weapons to Israel.
Activists accuse Barclays of holding “substantial financial ties with arms companies supplying weapons and military technology to Israel”, which they say is being used in its attacks on Gaza.
On Tottenham Court Road, proPalestinian and pro-Israel supporters were kept apart by barriers placed across the road, with around 12 police officers standing between the two groups.
About 50 Israeli supporters, organised by Enough Is Enough, chanted “terrorist supporters off our streets” and “rape is not resistance”, while holding placards aloft reading: “Hamas Are Terrorists” and “Remember the hostages kidnapped by Hamas”.
One pro-Israel activist flew a flag in support of the Iranian monarchy overthrown by the Islamic revolution.
A smaller group of pro-Palestinian activists opposite chanted, “Free, free Palestine”.
The pro-Israel group shouted “no hostages, no ceasefire”. They also booed members of the public who walked by shouting support for Palestine.
One of the main pro-Israeli supporters had a sweatshirt with the words
“Please do not arrest me” emblazoned on the back.
The wording appeared to refer to an incident last week in which a Metropolitan Police officer told anti-Semitism campaigner Gideon Falter he was “openly Jewish” as he threatened him with arrest over his presence close to a pro-Palestinian march.
Elsewhere, protests were staged outside Barclays bank branches in Bristol, Canterbury, Dorchester, Tower Hamlets, Luton and Oxford.
There were also pro-Palestinian protests held outside Hereford Cathedral and St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall, Orkney.
In Manchester, thousands marched calling for the release of Palestinian prisoners. There were repeated chants of “From the river to the sea” by proPalestinian activists at the demonstrations around the country yesterday.
The chant, widely interpreted as a call for the destruction of the state of Israel, was heard at the Tottenham Court Road protest, where at one stage a pro-Palestinian activist made a cutthroat gesture towards the Israeli supporters opposite.
Scotland Yard said it was aware of the throat-cutting gesture and was investigating the incident.
In Scotland, as thousands gathered at a rally calling for independence, many of the demonstrators carried Palestinian flags and chanted, “Free, free Palestine”.
However, counter-protesters gathered in George Square, Glasgow, carrying Union flags, including one man dressed in a Union Jack suit.