for an independent inquiry<\/a> into what they described as \u201crepressive and heavy-handed policing\u201d at the 18 January demonstration.<\/p>\nPrevious marches, which took place after Israeli forces launched the assault on Gaza after the 7 October 2023 Hames-led attack on Israel, had passed largely without incident. Relations between police and organisers, including the PSC, had been considered cordial.<\/p>\n
Campaigners said they wanted the march to start or end at BBC headquarters in Portland Place to protest against the public broadcaster\u2019s coverage of the war in Gaza. They said the location had been used twice previously without incident.<\/p>\n
The Met said it placed conditions on the protest after factoring in \u201cthe cumulative impact\u201d on Jewish Londoners, adding that the march was in the vicinity of synagogues. Officers said they believed there was a coordinated effort to breach those conditions.<\/p>\n
A number of critical letters were sent to the force alleging it falsely accused protesters carrying flowers \u2013 including the former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and his former shadow chancellor John McDonnell \u2013 of forcing their way through police lines, when video footage appeared to show they had initially been waved through by officers.<\/p>\n
Dozens of protesters gathered outside the court on Wednesday morning. The public gallery was full of the defendants\u2019 supporters, including Corbyn, as the judge delivered the verdicts.<\/p>\n
Speaking outside the court, McDonnell said he had been with Jamal and Nineham on the day of the protest. He said Jamal went on stage to say they would assemble speakers, walk to police lines and ask if a delegation could go to the BBC. If refused, they would lay flowers at officers\u2019 feet.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a grotesque decision today. But it is all part and parcel of trying to undermine our civil liberties,\u201d he told the crowd. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to recognise that this is an assault on our civil liberties, and there\u2019s more coming down the road.\u201d<\/p>\n
Corbyn also addressed supporters, saying: \u201cI\u2019m absolutely appalled, disgusted, that they\u2019ve been found guilty of doing no more than standing up for the rights of the Palestinian people, and very importantly, the right to protest within our society.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jamal and Nineham left the court to cheers from the crowd.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe think this is an extraordinary and shocking decision, and a huge setback for civil liberties in this country,\u201d Nineham said. \u201cIt is an attempt to send a chilling message across society that people shouldn\u2019t be protesting. It is an attempt that will not stop us.\u201d<\/p>\n
He described the conditions of the march as a step change. \u201cA refusal to march in the vicinity of the BBC has simply not happened before, and it sends a very dangerous and alarming signal to millions of people across this country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Jamal said he would be appealing because of how the trial had been conducted. \u201cConsider these two basic facts: six days were allocated from this case; the judge allowed the prosecution to take four days to make their case and did not allow any additional time for defence submissions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He added the verdict would not distract campaigners from their cause. \u201cYesterday, Israel became the world\u2019s first state to enact a law which mandates execution only for people of one ethnic background [Palestinians]. Even apartheid South Africa did not have such a law, but still our government offers Israel diplomatic, economic, political, and military support. And instead of ending its complicity, it devotes its energy to bringing in even further laws to repress the right to protest. It will not work. We will not be silenced.\u201d<\/p>\n
Campaigners vowed that the protest for Palestinian rights on 16 May would go ahead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two prominent leaders in the Palestine solidarity movement in Britain have been found guilty of breaching protest conditions,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":507175,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-507174","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-kingdom","8":"tag-gb","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-greatbritain","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=507174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/507175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=507174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=507174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=507174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}