Now pro-Palestine protesters occupy Whitehall building
PrO-PAleSTINe demonstrators forced their way into a government building yesterday.
The london for a Free
Palestine group invaded the Department for Business and Trade over its perceived links to supplying arms to Israel.
The activists occupied a hall and chanted: ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.’
The slogan is considered antiSemitic in its implied call for the end of the state of Israel. They
had staged a distraction outside – involving a cyclist crashing into a pedestrian – before forcing their way in past a security guard.
The group was eventually removed by police, with a government spokesman saying it was ‘unacceptable to harass civil servants as they go about their jobs’.
Back on the street, a banner reading ‘ Stop arming Israel’ was unfurled. Protesters wore T-shirts printed with the same message.
One member of the group, Zak Suffee, 37, said the Whitehall department was ‘where the arms contracts are agreed for Israel’.
The nation has been carrying out a bombing campaign in Gaza, in response to the October 7 terror attacks.
She said: ‘Stopping sales to Israel and calling for a ceasefire are big steps that could really help, and not doing that means that they [the Government] are actually enabling genocide.’
Another activist, Maria, said: ‘We are going here today… because that’s where the licences for arms exports to Israel from the UK are signed and approved.
‘The UK has been giving Israel diplomatic, military and economic support, which has enabled it to carry out and continue its geno
cide and long-term colonisation of Palestine.’ A Department for Business and Trade spokesman said: ‘The attempt to enter the department by force cannot be justified in any way.
‘We are grateful to the police for their response and swift action.’
He added: ‘We take our defence export responsibilities extremely seriously and operate one of the most robust export licensing controls in the world.’
The protest came as Israel faced growing pressure to scale back its devastating response to the October attacks carried out by Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip.
According to the Gaza health ministry, more than 32,000 Palestinians have been killed by the missile strikes.
There are also concerns that Israel is not facilitating the delivery of food and medical aid to the malnourished population of Gaza.
Volker Turk, the UN’s most senior human rights official, said that Israel bore significant blame and there is a ‘plausible’ case it is using starvation as a weapon, which would amount to a war crime.
Meanwhile, the UN International Court of Justice last night ordered Israel to open more land crossings to allow food, water, fuel and other supplies into the Strip.
The legally-binding measures are the result of a case brought by South Africa. Israel’s foreign ministry had no immediate comment.
‘Arms contracts are agreed here’