Let there be bloodshed, cry protesters as they take to Britain’s streets
PRO-PALESTINE activists set off flares and fireworks and proclaimed ‘let there be bloodshed’ as heated protests took place across the UK last night.
More than 1,000 demonstrators gathered outside the Israeli embassy in Kensington, west London, waving flags, setting off fireworks, banging drums and chanting ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’.
Just three miles away a similar number waved Israeli flags and prayed outside Downing Street in solidarity with the more than 900 people who have lost their lives since Saturday’s surprise attack on Israel.
As protesters scaled bins and lampposts outside the embassy, which had been boarded up, one officer said: ‘We just hope that the two groups don’t meet and pro-Israeli activists arrive here too
– then it will be chaos.’
Across the street, around ten protesters scaled a Bupa Dental Care building where they scrawled
‘free Palestine’ in red and green spray paint on to the wall.
Various activist groups turned up in support, including the Socialist Worker, which had set up at least three stalls.
It was selling its newspapers and calling for signatures for a petition demanding the end of ‘ arming Israel apartheid’.
In Newcastle, more than 200 activists surrounded Grey’s Monument for an ‘ End the siege on Gaza’ protest, chanting ‘free, free Palestine.’ Among them was an activist named Ahmed, 36, who held a sizzling green flare aloft and told reporters: ‘ Let there be bloodshed for now. I support the Palestinian resistance. Hamas are a freedom movement, they are resistance, they are not terrorists. Israel is an apartheid state. You shouldn’t steal someone’s land and you shouldn’t kill people either.’
Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis told the crowd outside Downing Street that no civilised person could fail to be moved and deeply shocked by the ‘brutal terrorist outrage in Israel’.
‘The scenes have been horrific. In fact, I find it difficult encapsulating the depth of our anguish, of our concern, having seen these scenes over the past few days,’ he said.
Rachel Shoer Geaves, 81, from north London, said: ‘I am from Israel, my parents had to flee Vienna in the Holocaust. I have two brothers and their families who are there right now and all I can do is pray for their safety.’
The protests came as police deployed extra security outside Jewish schools after a spate of antiSemitic violence and vandalism.
The words ‘Free Palestine’ were daubed onto a bridge in Golders Green, home to London’s largest Jewish community.
The nearby Pita kosher restaurant was also vandalised and a cash register was stolen – though police have said the attack is not being treated as a hate crime.
The Met Police has stepped up patrols in Jewish areas of the capital after videos that were circulating online appeared to show people celebrating the attacks by Hamas.
Pupils at some Jewish schools have also been warned not to wear blazers carrying the school logo.
A Met Police spokesman said it had ‘increased policing patrols across parts of London in order to provide a visible presence and reassurance to our communities’.
Palestine Action activists have taken responsibility for spraying red paint on a Grade II-listed building in Ancoats, Manchester, which was once the home of the Express newspaper but now hosts recruitment firm IO Associates, over its links with Israelbased defence technology firm Elbit Systems.
A spokesman from the Community Security Trust said the vandalism was an ‘attempt to intimidate the Jewish community’, adding: ‘ It is disgraceful and should be roundly condemned by all sides.
‘We expect the police to fully investigate because this cannot be allowed to continue.’