‘It’s a Free Country’, Claims Police Officer Protecting Genocide-Denying Counter Protesters

Police arrested 55 peaceful protesters in London on Saturday for holding handwritten signs that said “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action”. The same officers refused to remove a dozen counter-protesters who disrupted the action in Parliament Square to insinuate that killing all two million Gazans would be justified. 

“It’s a free country,” a Metropolitan Police officer told Novara Media, as scores of people, including a doctor, a psychotherapist and several retirees, were carried away or dragged violently along the ground in the pouring rain for asserting their support of a non-violent direct-action group. 

“In my long life I have not seen anything like the horrors coming out of Gaza each day,” said doctor Paul O’Brien, who was among those arrested. “Nobody and nothing is spared. Despite this, our government continues to provide political, military and moral support for Israel conducting this genocide.”

Psychotherapist Clare Walters said: “I am a 68-year-old grandmother. I cannot remain quiet while this country is actively supporting genocide in Gaza. It is not happening in my name. To criminalise people who are protesting against arms sales to Israel is a terrifyingly oppressive step that is being taken by this government.”

Despite numerous requests from observers for the police to separate the two groups – as is the norm at pro-Palestine protests, to avoid clashes between the two sides – officers repeatedly refused to remove the counter protesters, who held printed signs that read: “There is no genocide, but there are 2 million human shields.”

An hour into the action, only counter-protesters were left standing under the Mahatma Gandhi statue, goading a small number of observers, who had been chanting, “free, free Palestine”. Police formed a line to protect them. 

Eventually, they left on their own terms, heckling journalists – as scores of protesters, many of them elderly, were driven away in police vans. 

On social media, people reacted with shock and anger. “Democracy is dead,” Defend Our Juries commented on Instagram.

Palestine Action was proscribed as a terrorist organisation under UK law on 5 July. Membership of, or support for, the group is now a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

On Monday 21 July, Huda Ammori, who founded Palestine Action, will appear in the High Court to seek permission for a full judicial review of the proscription of the group. 

 

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This was the third week of organised civil disobedience opposing the new ban, which has seen journalists, including Novara Media, forced to self-censor, and confused police officers claiming any support of the Palestinian cause is now a terror offence. 

Saturday was a marked escalation from previous weeks, with more than 100 people arrested across the country in just one day. This means around 300 people have now been arrested under sections of the terrorism act since the law changed – compared to just 248 people arrested on terrorism charges in the UK last year. Police have raided 14 homes in Cardiff, Leeds and Bradford.  

Inconsistent policing means some have been allowed to challenge the ban without reprisals. On Saturday, protesters in Edinburgh and Derry were allowed to sit for an hour with signs the same as those held in London, but were not arrested. 

Elsewhere, 17 were arrested in Bristol, 16 in Manchester and eight in Truro – including 81-year-old Deborah Hinton OBE, a retired magistrate.

Meanwhile, thousands of people took to the streets in central London on Saturday afternoon, gathering less than a quarter of a mile away from Parliament Square, as part of a regular national march for Palestine. There a pro-Israel counter-protest blared the Queen song ‘We Are the Champions’ on a loudspeaker, but was nevertheless largely drowned out by the main protest, which outnumbered it by hundreds to one. 

Police are believed to have arrested eight protesters who defied proscription during the march, with one video showing two elderly women being pulled from the crowd for holding homemade signs supporting Palestine Action.

Defend Our Juries claims there will be “a major groundswell in numbers on 9 August” with over 500 people expected to defy the law, it said in a statement.

A spokesperson said: “Just a few weeks ago, being arrested under the Terrorism Act was the stuff of nightmares. Now it’s a badge of honour that people are wearing with pride – the mark of resistance to genocide and standing firm for our democratic freedoms. This is a major cultural shift.”

The Met Police has been approached for comment.