{"id":537868,"date":"2026-04-18T14:16:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T14:16:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/537868\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T14:16:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T14:16:16","slug":"glasgows-kelvingrove-art-gallery-temporarily-closes-after-pro-palestine-protest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/537868\/","title":{"rendered":"Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Art Gallery temporarily closes after pro-Palestine protest"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Mothers Against Genocide held a silent protest on Friday at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum against an Israeli law that would make the death penalty the default sentence<\/a> for Palestinian \u201cterrorists\u201d.\n<\/p>\n

\n The legislation, which was passed last month, means that Palestinians convicted in Israeli military courts of carrying out deadly attacks deemed to be \u201cacts of terrorism\u201d would be executed by hanging within 90 days, with a possible postponement of up to 180 days.\n<\/p>\n

\n The death penalty would be carried out where the intention of the attack was to \u201cnegate the existence of the state of Israel\u201d, which human rights organisations have said is designed to target Palestinians and would exclude Israelis who attack them, such as violent settlers in the West Bank<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

\n READ MORE: Pro-Palestine activists smash office windows of ‘firm linked with Israel’<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n Members of Mothers Against Genocide held the protest to call on the UK Government<\/a> to \u201curgently intervene\u201d, and demand an end to the use of the death penalty and to the genocide in Gaza<\/a>.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n Mothers Against Genocide held a silent protest at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum (Image: Mothers Against Genocide)\n<\/p>\n

\n During the protest, the museum’s regular organ performance was forced to temporarily stop and was followed by a song from the demonstrators who sang \u201cwe call it what it is, we call it a genocide\u201d.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n Protesters gathered on the balcony, where Palestinian keffiyehs were hung from nooses alongside a banner calling for an end to executions.\n<\/p>\n

\n Other members stood blindfolded, with their hands bound and mouths taped, which they said represented Palestinian hostages.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n Mothers Against Genocide protest on Friday (Image: Mothers Against Genocide)\n<\/p>\n

\n Emma Gall, a mother of two and Mothers Against Genocide member, urged the public to also \u201ctake action now before it\u2019s too late\u201d.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n She added: \u201cThese unlawful executions are immoral, indefensible, and set a hugely dangerous precedent worldwide that puts global democracy in danger.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cOur leaders are taking note of what human rights violations we are willing to ignore, and as we\u2019ve seen increasingly in America, and in the deterioration of our right to protest in the UK, this is already having devastating consequences for citizens globally.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n <\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cPlease take action in any way you can, and show Israel that they cannot act with impunity.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n The group claimed that during the protest, the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum was temporarily closed to visitors and that police were also called to the scene.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n A Police Scotland<\/a> spokesperson confirmed that no arrests were made.\n<\/p>\n

\n They said: \u201cOfficers were called to attend a small protest within a premises in Kelvingrove Park, Glasgow, on Friday, 17 April, 2026.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cNo arrests were made and it passed without incident.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Following its passing in March, Human rights organisations condemned the legislation, describing it as \u201cone of the world’s most extreme death penalty laws\u201d.\n<\/p>\n

\n Mothers Against Genocide protest at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum (Image: Mothers Against Genocide)\n<\/p>\n

\n Amnesty International described the legislation as \u201cone of the world’s most extreme death penalty laws\u201d, adding that Israel is \u201cbrazenly granting itself carte blanche to execute Palestinians while stripping away the most basic fair-trial safeguards\u201d.\n<\/p>\n

\n A number of legal challenges to the bill have already been lodged with Israel’s Supreme Court.\n<\/p>\n

\n A petition that was launched at the end of last year, ahead of the final vote, has also reached more than 100,000 signatures, urging the UK Government to intervene<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

\n The UK Parliament considers all petitions that get more than 100,000 signatures for a debate.\n<\/p>\n

\n Glasgow Life has been approached for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mothers Against Genocide held a silent protest on Friday at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum against an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":537869,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,1120,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-537868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537868","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=537868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/537869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=537868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=537868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=537868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}