Protesters demand dismissal of charges against Palestine activist

Pro-justice demonstrators in London are calling on the Westminster Magistrates' Court to drop the charges against a man they believe was unjustly arrested and charged.

I'm here to support Chris Nineham. I think I've got the right to protest, as everybody has in a democratic, so-called democratic society. I think it's appalling what's happening.

Protester 01

• Palestine solidarity activist in court for organizing 'illegal' demo
  

  Palestine solidarity march acrivist in court for organizing 'illegal' demo

  Demonstrators gather outside a London court which is trying one of the organizers of a pro-Palestine march in London arrested last month.

Chris Nineham, the founder of the anti-war group 'Stop the War Coalition', was apprehended, and later released, during a pro-Palestine march in central London on January 18, 2025.

I was on that demonstration with Chris. We broke no laws.

This is an attempt to shut down the right to demonstrate, in particular to shut down the right to demonstrate about the outrage in Gaza.

Kevin Courtney, Former General Secretary, National Education Union

This prompted clashes between demonstrators and the Metropolitan Police, who handcuffed 77 of them under the so-called Public Order Act, legislation which the demonstrators assert has given police too many powers.

Police have been granted excessive powers, which are a threat to the right to free assembly, and that is a fault in the legislation, and it's a fault in the way in which the police are applying  the legislation, they've overstepped the mark, even that [which] a bad piece of law gave them.

John Rees, Writer and Activist

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The reason behind the whole episode was the reversal on an agreement by the Metropolitan Police with the Palestine Solidarity demonstration organizers who had planned to march from the BBC building to White Hall, where the government offices are located.

The Met's justification was the purported disruptions to a synagogue in the vicinity of the public broadcaster.

There's been no evidence of any threat to any synagogue. And on every single demonstration, we have thousands of Jewish people marching with us.

And then on the day from the beginning, as we've heard people assert today, people who were there, they began to very aggressively and violently arrest people, many of them simply for standing in the wrong place.

Ben Jamal, Palestine Solidarity Campaign

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Ben Jamal, who was also charged with public order offenses, believes the aim of the police crackdown was to distract the public from the real reason for those demonstrations, which he says are now more crucial given US President Donald Trump's plans to forcibly displace Palestinians from Gaza.

The violent arrests in January came after 15 months of demonization by pro-Zionist politicians and the media in Britain.

It is feared that, at this rate, Britons could find themselves in a situation where they may be arrested for simply expressing solidarity for Palestinians.

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