Palestine supporters condemn ‘shocking’ placards as pro-Israeli group gatecrashes Town Hall rally
Complaints were made about th placards being held up by pro-Israel activists. Photograph: PSC
Three people were arrested outside Hackney Town Hall last night as pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli activists congregated ahead of a politically sensitive council meeting.
The protests took place as councillors inside the chamber decided against divesting stocks held by the council’s pension fund in an Israeli arms company.
The Metropolitan Police confirmed that two people, a 25-year-old man and a 51-year-old woman, were detained on suspicion of causing racially or religiously aggravated harassment, alarm of distress.
A 59-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of causing fear or provoking violence due to threatening behaviour.
All three were taken to an east London police station before being bailed pending further enquiries.
It has yet to be confirmed if those arrested were pro-Palestinian or pro-Israeli protesters.
Police presence was heavy at yesterday’s gathering, with officers ensuring the two groups were kept apart.
The pro-Palestinian crowd was significantly larger than the pro-Israeli group, which was made up of approximately 20 people.
The Citizen spoke to a number of pro-Israeli protesters, most of whom admitted they were not Hackney residents but had come to support “Israel’s right to defend itself”.
The two sets of protesters were kept apart by police. Photograph: Maya Sall
One person, draped in an Israeli flag, held up a placard likening the pro-Palestinian supporters to members of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). The sign read ‘Covering your face be like’, with two KKK members pictured below.
A neighbouring placard held by a pro-Israeli supporter read ‘Global Intifada = London Bombings 2005’.
Complaints were made to police at the protest about the KKK placard, with one officer replying: “I’ll look into it”.
The Citizen asked the Met if the person holding the placard was one of those arrested, but the force refused to confirm or deny.
“From our point of view, these banners were the epitome of hate speech,” said Sussan Rassoulie, secretary of Hackney’s Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
“Likening the traditional dress of some Muslim communities, or the choice of dress by women generally, to the actions of the murderous and racist Ku Klux Klan is beyond reprehensible.
“We think the police should have picked up on that without us pointing it out to them.”
Cllr Alastair Binnie-Lubbock, co-leader of Hackney Green Party, condemned the placard: “It’s implication is incredibly Islamophobic.
“This behaviour and sign don’t represent the morals and values of the people of Hackney.”
“It’s seen in stark contrast to the peaceful Palestine encampment and campaign,” he continued.
“To come and counter-protest in such a way, when the pro-Palestinian, pro-divestment protesters are participating in the democratic process and asking for humanity and peace, is shocking.”
Martin Sugarman, chair of Hackney’s twinning relationship with Haifa, an Israeli town, defended the placard, labelling it a “valid comparison between BDS [the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement] and racist KKK”.
He accused those who made the complaints of being a “namby pamby woke person… upset by a valid sign” and said their objection to it is “the height of hypocrisy”.
Hackney Council has been approached for comment and is expected to provide a response tomorrow morning.
Why didn't the police arrest those at the demonstration pro-palestinian who were singing loudly From the river…. was that selective deafness?
The Greens seem very keen on having their say on world affairs. Perhaps they could remember they are Hackney councillors and take an interest in matters nearer to home. A good example would be the shocking mismanagement of the Council's housing stock. Hackney Labour don't seem to care. Can the Greens step up?
These are world affairs but they effect people locally who have family who have been affected or killed by the conflict. Also, as we heard from the union representatives, those paying in, and those due to receive pensions don't necessarily want to profit from these conflicts and occupation.
We are working on the council's housing stock, pushing for retrofit so homes are cheaper to keep warm, getting the council to buy back properties and campaigning to end right to buy which has severely depleted the council's stock. We're also scrutinising the council's approach to damp and mould and what the housing ombudsman recently called severe maladministration: https://dmscdn.vuelio.co.uk/publicitem/c5a0079f-13dd-439c-8902-6e9b26301b10
Because that chant is not hate speech. It's calling for freedom which doesn't degenerate anyone else's rights.
Rubbish; Binnie-Lubbock is deluded and lying; it means destroy Israel and have one Arab dominated state between the River Jordan and Mediterranean Sea. It is a profoundly anti-Semitic slogan; the Jews had a state in Israel for 3,000 years before Islam and before the Arabs stole it, occupied it, ethnically cleansed the Jews and settled and colonized Israel. Now we are back. Grow up
Thanks to the Greens for showing humanity and supporting the entirely reasonable request for Hackney pensions to be invested ethically. Watching the pensions meeting on YouTube, I was struck by how coldly the committee received the deputation, despite the horrors described by the resident who delivered it, whose Palestinian family are directly experiencing the devastation. With the ridiculous time restrictions imposed by the chair, the lack of debate, refusing to allow a pensions expert to briefly speak on the basis of running out of time, and the pre-written response from the committee, the whole thing felt like a heartless farce.
So, what is your position on killing babies then, Martin? Just asking. Don't feel any pressure now…
I mean only the "bad" ones, who like might grow up to be really bad dudes ..hmm?
Emma should note the following; there were other people in the Chamber who have relatives on the Israeli side and serving in the IDF risking their lives daily to get the hostages out and rid Gaza of hamas terror; 200,000 Israelis have been dislodged from their homes, many ruined, to escape shelling by Hamas and Hezbollah in north and south Israel; no hostages, no ceasefire – go tell Hamas. Nearly 400 Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza. The Palestinians have no monopoly on pain.
Every Council meeting has time restrictions or they would go on all night. I know – I have attended quite a few.
What you and the reporter for Hackney Citizen do not say, however, is that the PSC speakers tried to bully the Chair into giving them time to speak longer, and were rude and interrupted him when he asked them to stop. Even Binnie-Lubbock of the ever tiresome and treacherous Greens, tried to intervene and was told to keep quiet. When the anti BDS speaker spoke, he was booed and jeered from the gallery by PSC supporters who had jumped the queue outside and filled almost all the seats in the gallery in order to try and intimidate and harass the Committee and the anti-BDS speaker and supporters. Typical Fascist tactics. Bad manners and bullying does not begin to describe such behaviour ; the anti-BDS speaker said his piece and when he over- ran he stopped immediately on request in a civilised manner. The only farce was that the Council allowed the PSC to bring this delegation on BDS in the first place. A waste of Council Tax payers money and the Committee's time
Emma should also note that it is entirely UNETHICAL to divest from Israel, as such action will help impoverish Israel so it can be over-run and its people massacred in a second Holocaust; ask your Hamas and Hezbollah friends to confirm that please.