The Metropolitan Police have been accursed of “misrepresenting events” after charging ten people with public order offences following the Palestine Solidarity Campaign march in London yesterday.
Among those charged are Chris Nineham from the Stop the War Coalition and Jeremy Corbyn’s brother, Piers.
The Met is accusing the protesters of breaching guidelines on where they were allowed to demonstrate, ostensibly to avoid approaching a nearby synagogue.
But the Stop the War Coalition has accused the police of “misrepresenting events” to justify their “repressive actions.”
According to the Met, conditions were put in place after taking into account the “cumulative impact of the prolonged period of protest on Jewish Londoners, particularly when protests are in the vicinity of synagogues often on Saturdays, the Jewish holy day.”
They claim that police officers saw a coordinated effort to breach these conditions which prevented protestors gathering in the vicinity of a synagogue located a short distance from Portland Place, London.
“This is despite the PSC agreeing to a static protest and numerous updates from the Met to protestors prior to the march and on the day,” the Met said.
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Those charged with public order offences include:
- Angela Zelter, 73.
- Tessa Roe-Stanton, 20.
- Monday Rosenfeld, 21.
- Starr Thomas, 20.
- Colin Weedon, 78.
- Christian Adair, 23.
- Matthew Brennan, 44.
- David Ok, 40.
- Piers Corbyn, 77.
- Christopher Nineham, 62.
They are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in the coming days.
Following the arrests yesterday, 24 people have been bailed and 48 remain in custody.
Commander Adam Slonecki, who led the policing operation, said: “Yesterday we saw a deliberate effort, including by protest organisers, to breach conditions and attempt to march out of Whitehall.
“This was a serious escalation in criminality and one which we are taking incredibly seriously. Officers have worked around the clock to pursue those involved.
“We will continue to work through CCTV footage, videos from social media and our body worn cameras so we can make further arrests and bring forward charges where we identify criminality.
“I’d like to thank officers for their professional response, including those from other forces across the country who assisted. Thankfully no officers were injured during the protest, however three were spat at and one was physically assaulted. They are receiving appropriate support.”
Stop the War statement
The Stop the War Coalition have released the following detailed statement:
“The Metropolitan Police has promoted a misleading narrative about the events in Whitehall and Trafalgar Square, claiming that a peaceful delegation pushed through police lines in an attempt to justify their repressive actions on Saturday 18 January. This could not be further from the truth.
“On Saturday 18 January, we organised a rally on Whitehall to call for a permanent end to Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Despite our long-standing record of peaceful demonstrations, the police, under political pressure from pro-Israel groups, banned our planned march to the BBC. In response, we announced plans for a rally and a peaceful protest against this anti-democratic ban.
“Ahead of the rally, we publicly called on the police to rescind the restrictions they had imposed and allow our march to go ahead. We had also made clear that if they refused to do so we would hold a rally and protest against the ban as part of that rally. The police were fully aware of these statements and our intentions.
“On the day, we were confronted with extremely heavy-handed and aggressive policing. With less than 24 hours’ notice, the police had imposed a series of complex restrictions preventing people from assembling at various points on Whitehall at various times of the day – notably an area at the centre of Whitehall from which rally participants were excluded for part of the day to allow space for a children’s marching band to proceed up and down. As a result, a number of people were arrested without warning, on flimsy pretexts including simply for inadvertently standing in this central area at the wrong time. We understand that a total of 77 people were arrested on the day, 66 of them for alleged violations of these orders.
“At the end of the rally, it was announced from the stage that, as an act of protest against the police ban, a delegation of organisers and rally speakers – including an 87-year-old Jewish Holocaust survivor, politicians including MPs, and prominent cultural figures – would walk silently and peacefully towards the BBC. It was clearly stated that the delegation expected to be stopped by the police and that no attempt would be made to push through police lines – the delegation would simply leave the flowers they were carrying at the feet of the police and disperse in an orderly and dignified manner. They anticipated being stopped at the line of police that had been constructed at the top of Whitehall.
“When the delegation reached this police line, they were not stopped as expected but were instead invited to proceed into Trafalgar Square by the police who said, ‘please filter through.’ When the delegation reached the other end of the square, they encountered a line of police which prevented them from going any further. They formally requested that the delegation – a maximum of 25 people – be allowed to proceed.
“The police officer in charge said he would need to ‘pass this up the line for a decision.’ While the delegation was awaiting that response, the police violently and for no apparent reason arrested the chief steward of the rally, Chris Nineham. At this point, the delegation laid their flowers as they had said they would do and dispersed, and Ben Jamal and Ismail Patel used a megaphone to call on the crowd that had gathered around them to do the same, which people then did. At no stage was there any organised breach of the conditions imposed by the police. There is a large amount of video evidence confirming all of these events.
“This is a direct assault on freedom of assembly and democracy. The police’s actions, including their false statements after the event, are deeply troubling. We demand the immediate release of all those arrested and remain resolute in our campaign for freedom and justice for the Palestinian people.
“We strongly condemn the unjustified arrest of Chris Nineham and several other activists who were peacefully demonstrating in solidarity with Palestine. These arrests are a blatant suppression of the democratic right to protest and were made without any valid justification.
“It is important to be clear that all the aggressive behaviour came solely from the police. The protesters maintained a peaceful stance throughout, complying with police instructions, including refraining from marching to the BBC as initially planned, in adherence to the directives issued by the authorities.
“The heavy-handed response from the police, based on flimsy pretexts, is unacceptable. We call for the immediate release of Chris Nineham and all other detained activists and urge the police to respect the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression.
“This demonstration aimed to highlight the ongoing atrocities in Palestine, and the attempt to stifle this voice of solidarity is deeply troubling. We stand firm in our commitment to justice for Palestine and will continue to speak out against oppression and inequality.”
