The government cited Thursday’s attack on a Manchester synagogue, which left six people dead or injured, as justification to demand the cancellation of Saturday’s rally in central London. However, civil society group Defend Our Juries rejected the request, insisting that over 1,000 volunteers will gather to support Palestine Action, a group recently proscribed as a “terrorist organization” by the British government.
Officials claim that canceling the protest would allow police to protect Jewish sites better and prevent what they describe as “antisemitism.” Yet for two years, peace activists across the U.K. have marched every Saturday against Israel’s war crimes in Gaza and Western complicity, particularly from the US and the U.K.
Defend Our Juries has called on new Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to revoke the ban on Palestine Action and urged police to refrain from mass arrests of peaceful demonstrators. British law enforcement has warned that supporting the banned group could result in up to 14 years in prison under anti-terror legislation.
Since the group’s designation as a terrorist entity, over 2,000 people have been arrested for expressing support. Many elderly citizens have joined the protests, aiming to overwhelm the judicial system with cases and paralyze the courts if they are detained.
Activists argue that the suffering of Gaza’s people is their own, and that practical action is needed to stop the flow of weapons to Israel and end the mass killings. Some have called for the complete disarmament of the Israeli regime.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, more than 66,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 168,000 injured or disabled in Israeli bombings over the past two years.
Hossein Amiri - seyed mohammad kazemi
