Peter Tatchell, the activist and campaigner, has been arrested for holding a placard which displayed the phrase \u201cglobalise the intifada\u201d at a pro-Palestine march in London.<\/p>\n
Tatchell, who attended a Palestine<\/a> solidarity march in London on Saturday afternoon, held a sign that read: \u201cGlobalise the intifada: Non-violent resistance. End Israel\u2019s occupation of Gaza & West Bank.\u201d<\/p>\n He called his arrest an \u201cattack on free speech\u201d and said police claimed the word intifada was unlawful. He was taken to Sutton police station in south London<\/a>.<\/p>\n In a statement released by the Peter Tatchell Foundation, the 74-year-old, who is one of the country\u2019s best known gay rights campaigners, said his arrest was \u201cpart of a dangerous trend to increasingly restrict and criminalise peaceful protests\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Arab word intifada means uprising, rebellion or resistance against Israel\u2019s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. It does not mean violence and is not antisemitic. It is against the Israeli regime and its war crimes, not against Jewish people.<\/p>\n Human rights activist Peter Tatchell, photographed in his London flat in 2016 surrounded by memorabilia from his numerous campaigns and protests. Photograph: Andy Hall\/The Observer<\/p>\n \u201cBy \u2018non-violent resistance\u2019 I was advocating boycott, sanction and divestment \u2013 the same tactics that helped bring down the apartheid regime in South Africa. \u2018Globalise the intifada\u2019 means create a worldwide campaign like the anti-apartheid movement.<\/p>\n \u201cThe police are totally wrong to conflate support for Palestinian resistance to oppression with hatred and attacks on Jews,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n In December, the Metropolitan police<\/a> said that protesters who chanted \u201cglobalise the intifada\u201d would now be arrested because the \u201ccontext has changed\u201d after the Bondi Beach terror attack in Sydney.<\/p>\n On Saturday afternoon, the force said: \u201cOfficers policing the Palestine Coalition protest have arrested a 74-year-old man on suspicion of a public order offence. He was seen carrying a sign including the words \u2018globalise the intifada\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n The Metropolitan police said there were 13 arrests from the Palestine Coalition protest and one from the Stop the Hate counter demonstration.<\/p>\n Tatchell said three people \u201cwere charged with this new \u2018crime\u2019 of expressing support for an intifada against Israel\u2019s war crimes and genocide\u201d at a London rally last month.<\/p>\n \u201cI have a long history of defending Jewish people against the antisemitism of the far right and Islamist extremism. I joined the March Against Antisemitism<\/a>, with the chief rabbi and thousands of Jewish people, on 26 November 2023, just after the 7 October massacre,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n