discussion of this article

bill j said…

According to the Press Association the cops attacked the end of the London demo, was anyone there?

"Organisers of the demonstration in London say they will make an official complaint to Scotland Yard after claiming that riot police charged into people on the protest, injuring many of them.

Eyewitnesses among the protesters said a number of people, including children, were thrown to the ground during clashes in the underpass at Hyde Park at the end of a march and rally.

Chris Nineham, an official of the Stop The War Coalition who has organised dozens of national demonstrations and rallies, said: "It was the most irresponsible police behaviour I have ever witnessed in my life.

"There was absolute pandemonium and people were falling over from the force of the police attacks.

"The police forced us to go down a tunnel where we were met by three or four ranks of riot officers who then charged at us at least three times using their riot sticks to attack people.

"I asked to see the officer in charge to plead with the police to stop and I told them someone was going to be killed if they carried on."

Respect MP George Galloway said he was one of those caught up in the incident as hundreds of the protesters made their way to the Israeli Embassy in Kensington High Street.

Mr Galloway said he and his daughter were thrown to the ground, adding: "It was very frightening. The police trapped us in the tunnel and attacked us repeatedly."

A woman caught up in the incident said: "It was like a throwback to the 1980s - people were just getting battered by the police. It was incredibly frightening."

The coalition said it is to make a "strong complaint" to the police about the incident.

Things turned violent at the demonstration outside the Israeli Embassy when protesters clashed with riot police.

Small pockets of violence erupted with glass bottles thrown at police and the police responding by charging the demonstrators.

Car windows were smashed and the quiet streets of Kensington were disturbed as pockets of sporadic violence broke out."

Sat 03, January 2009 @ 19:52

bill j said…

Another report here

"ISRAELI FLAGS BURNED IN PROTESTS OVER GAZA BOMBING

By Joe Churcher and Tom Rayner, Press Association

Angry protesters took to the streets across the UK today to demonstrate against the bombing of Gaza - burning the Israeli flag and throwing fireworks as the military action against Hamas was stepped up.

Police said at least 10,000 people packed London's Trafalgar Square - organisers claimed at least six times that number - in the biggest of a series of rallies at home and abroad demanding an end to the military action.

Hundreds of shoes were thrown at the gates of Downing Street during the march there, led by singer Annie Lennox, with demonstrators chanting "Shame on you, have my shoe" and "Brown terrorist".

The main protest in the capital passed off peacefully but there was a more heated atmosphere later when several thousand protesters descended on the Israeli embassy in Kensington.

Police wearing body armour and armed with truncheons and gas canisters apprehended several individuals as they attempted to hurdle barriers set up to keep them away from the building and threw fireworks.

Number 10 said the Prime Minister had spoken to his Israeli counterpart Ehud Olmert again to call for a halt to the action to stem the death toll and allow humanitarian supplies in.

But the protests came amid an escalation of the action, with heavy artillery reported to be in use by Israeli forces for the first time and a ground invasion still considered possible.

More than 400 Gazans have been killed and some 1,700 have been wounded since Israel began its aerial campaign a week ago, Gaza health officials said.

The UN said the death toll in Gaza included more than 60 civilians, 34 of them children.

Three Israeli civilians and one soldier have also died in rocket attacks that have reached deeper into Israel than ever before, bringing one eighth of Israel's population within rocket range.

The offensive was launched after more than a week of Palestinian rocket fire that followed a six-month truce.

Chanting "free, free Palestine" and "Israel terrorists", many London protesters carried Palestinian flags and banners or painted their faces in the colours of the Palestinian flag.

Part of a worldwide day of protest, hundreds more marched in Scottish and Irish cities as well as Bristol and Portsmouth - where organisers were stunned to attract 10 times the 50 or so expected to turn out.

Lennox said she hoped the scale of the protests would force a diplomatic solution.

"We are looking at a huge human rights tragedy in front of us. The idea of an air assault combined with a ground war in such a tightly-packed area as Gaza is unimaginable.

"There are 2,000 people injured already; it will be a bloodbath.

"The turnout today is absolutely incredible, it shows that so many people really care about the issue. Hopefully now we will see dialogue, dialogue, dialogue."

Downing Street said Mr Brown had spoken to Mr Olmert in a bid to secure a ceasefire.

"The Prime Minister has spoken again today to Prime Minister Olmert, and is pressing hard for an immediate ceasefire," a Number 10 spokesman said.

"Rocket attacks from Hamas must stop, and we have called for a halt to Israeli military action in Gaza. Too many have died and we need space to get humanitarian supplies to those who need them.

"As the Prime Minister has made clear, moderation must prevail."

Police said around 500 protesters marched peacefully through Glasgow while 600 took part in the event in Edinburgh.

Labour MSP Pauline McNeill told them: "Pressure must be put on Israel now to prevent this bloodshed and crucially they must be made to abide by international law."

In Bristol more than 300 protesters marched for a mile through the city centre after listening to speeches against the 'genocide' in Palestine.

Jon Woods, of the Stop the War Coalition, said the Portsmouth turnout reflected the strength of public feeling.

He said: "Given the amount of protests around the country we were only expecting 50 or 60 people or maybe one hundred but to get this many really shows that this is something that is affecting everyone. People want the slaughter in Gaza to end."

Irish marches took place in Dublin, Galway, Cork, Limerick, Derry and Sligo.

Foreign Office Minister Bill Rammell said a ceasefire was desperately needed.

"This is a dark and dangerous moment in the Middle East. We have been unequivocal in arguing for an urgent and immediate ceasefire; we have argued very strongly for effective humanitarian aid access for medical supplies, the food, the equipment that is desperately needed," he told Sky News.

"But we have also argued for a reinvigorated political process because a military solution is not going to be a sustainable one. We desperately need to see that ceasefire and diplomatic activity take place."

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said the Israeli action would be self-defeating and hit out at US President George Bush who pinned the blame on the "act of terror" by Hamas.

"Of course Israel has every right to defend itself...but I think the strategy they are now pursuing is self defeating: you can't bomb a terrorist organisation into submission," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

The moderate Palestinians who were the key to peace would be alienated, he said, accusing Mr Bush of giving an unquestioning green light to the offensive and Britain and the UK of not taking firm enough action.

As the situation outside the Israeli Embassy grew more violent the Metropolitan Police mobilised an additional unit of heavily-armoured riot police who forcibly moved large-waves of protesters away from the embassy down Kensington high street.

Police have sealed off all roads around the embassy and are not letting anybody through whilst they attempt to restore order in the over-crowded space directly opposite the embassy building from where an increasing number of missiles are being hurled at them.

Despite a number of protesters being led away by the police after attempting to storm the Israeli Embassy the Metropolitan Police said that there had been no arrests throughout the course of the day.

Outside the embassy a number of missiles were hurled at officers, including fireworks, and in response all the police present armed themselves with riot shields.

Labour MP John McDonnell demanded Parliament be recalled to discuss urgent action on the crisis and accused the Government of "standing by".

The Commons is not due back from its three-and-a-half-week Christmas holiday until January 12 but Mr McDonnell said an emergency session was required.

"We are witnessing a bloody massacre in Gaza and yet the UK Government has stood by and simply repeated the usual ritual, ineffective statements of condemnation.

"I am calling for the recall of Parliament to enable MPs to make clear that we need our Government to take decisive action to help halt this bloodbath and secure a ceasefire.

"Our Government should be taking a leading role in bringing together a global coalition to isolate Israel diplomatically, economically and militarily.

"Only in this way will Israeli aggression be halted."

One of the event organisers Ismail Patel said that a similar event has been planned for next weekend.

He said: "Today's demonstration has been a huge success, the response has been fantastic - we only expected 10,000 people but we easily exceeded that.

"We called for a similar demonstration next weekend but first let's see what happens in Gaza, a week is a long time in politics and hopefully the situation there will improve."

Although the extended demonstration outside the Israeli embassy in Kensington was not part of the official organised days' protest, Mr Patel estimated up to 3,000 of the protesters from Trafalgar square made their way there.

The Metropolitan Police said they estimated 5,000 protesters are in the area of High Street Kensington outside the Israeli Embassy."

Sat 03, January 2009 @ 19:54

George B said…

The Israeli ground invasion has now indeed begun under cover of darkness and following a radio speech from outgoing US president George W Bush, which gave a barely concealed green light to an escalation of Tel Aviv's military offensive against Hamas and the whole of population of Gaza. Even as tens of thousands marched from the Embankment to Trafalgar Square in London, at least 10 people perished included a child during an Israeli bombing raid on a mosque in Gaza.

The London demonstration was one of the largest seen in the capital since the mammoth mobilisations seen in 2003 immediately prior to and shortly after the start of the war against Iraq. It was certainly qualitatively bigger than the protests seen in the summer of 2006 against the Israeli air and land assault on Lebanon. The official Metropolitan Police estimate of 10,000 - 12,000 demonstrators was frankly incredible with Trafalgar Square and its immediate environs all but full to overflowing by 2.30 PM as the tightly packed march took nearly an hour to proceed into the square.

While claims of 60,000-75,000 from some of the organisations sponsoring the protest struck me as exaggerated, I have little doubt that the demonstration exceeded 35,000 at its peak.

As in Manchester the London demonstration was extremely lively and angry with thousands of young people - many of them of South Asian or Arab origin, but also many white British and other Europeans. Hundreds and hundreds of shoes were scattered in Whitehall across from the Downing Street gates, recalling the protest launched by a young Iraqi journalist during a press conference staged by the Bush administration and its puppet government in Baghdad.

Regrettably but not surprisingly given the time of year and the short run-up to the march, the organised labour movement presence was small, with a few NUT and Trades Council banners visible along with a handful of flags issued by the white collar rail union, TSSA. Over the coming days and weeks it will be crucial to turn progressive paper policies on the part of numerous British trade unions into meaningful actions in solidarity with the Palestinian masses.

Meanwhile, I understand that several thousand people went on from Trafalgar Square to the Israeli Embassy off High Street Kensington in West London, where they were confronted by substantial contingents of riot police shortly before word emerged of the launch of the Israeli ground offensive.

Sat 03, January 2009 @ 20:06

Dan said…

I wouldn't be surprised if the numbers in London topped 50,000 myself, given how many people were packed into Trafalgar Square.......

Sat 03, January 2009 @ 22:48

Mark H said…

Over 1000 turned up to the demo in Liverpool. The numbers, which included hundreds of Asian youth, caught organisers - Liverpool Friends of Palestine and Stop the War - and the police by surprise. After a series of speeches condemning the Israeli attacks the crowd grew. A sea of Palestinian flags covered the steps of Liverpool's famous bombed out church, St Lukes prompting the police to allow the crowd to stage an impromptu march through town to St George's Plateau. The march drew support as it went through town and at St George's more speeches attacking Israeli brutality drew loud applause and repeated chanting - led by the youth - of Free, Free Palestine. Over 1000 people mobilised in less than a week - and all done by text an e mail - was a fantastic response and shows the depth of anger that exists.

Sun 04, January 2009 @ 13:46

James said…

My write-up is here: http://www.scriboergosum.org.uk/revamp/2103

Sun 04, January 2009 @ 14:14

Alison H said…

Around 500 demonstrated in Sheffield on Saturday - as with the Manchester and Liverpool demos it was loud, lively, young and angry. STW are trying to get coaches to London organised for the 10th.

Tue 06, January 2009 @ 19:39