Ceasefire campaigners accuse politicians of stoking ‘social panic’ over protests
Palestine solidarity protest in Central London on 3 February 2024
Areeb Ullah reports in Middle East Eye on 28 February 2024:
Pro-Palestine groups in the UK have accused British politicians of “creating a smokescreen” to deflect attention from calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, amid pressure from the police to curb protests in central London.
The coalition of groups, which regularly organises protests to demand a ceasefire in Gaza, told journalists on Wednesday that “divisive rhetoric” by British MPs and “selective media coverage” is driving calls to curb protest rights in Britain.
“A social panic is being generated by a government who are avoiding the idea of demanding a ceasefire in Gaza,” said Chris Nineham from the Stop the War Coalition. “These divisive comments are creating the very tensions that politicians want to avoid, because the reality is that the protests are incredibly diverse. “They involve huge chunks of society; not just members of the Jewish community, but sections of the whole society.”
Since the 7 October Hamas attacks in southern Israel and the start of Israel’s bombing campaign and ground offensive in Gaza, protests calling for a ceasefire have taken place on a fortnightly basis in central London, regularly drawing crowds estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands.
The continuing assault on the enclave by Israeli forces has killed at least 30,000 Palestinians, according to health officials in Gaza.
Complaints sent to London police
The groups organising the protests include Friends of Al Aqsa, the Muslim Association of Britain, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the Palestinian Forum in Britain and the Stop the War Coalition.
Last week, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak accused protest groups of intimidating MPs during a debate in parliament over a ceasefire in Gaza. Pictures posted online showed hundreds of people waiting outside the Houses of Parliament to lobby their MPs to support a ceasefire.
Shamiul Joarder from the Friends of Al Aqsa group helped organise the lobby of parliament last week. “When we get people involved in our campaigns to call for a ceasefire, we are bringing them close to democracy, to having their say,” said Joarder. “Ultimately, it comes back down to the fundamental call that we all have: to stop the bombs dropping. To end the suffering. To call for a ceasefire. That’s why we will continue our protests and our campaigns.”