Foyle MP calls for British government to review Gaza protest policing

Foyle MP Colum Eastwood has described the arrest of pensioners, students and others who took to the streets over the weekend to campaign for an end to the genocide in Gaza as dystopian. 

Mr Eastwood was one of 26 MPs who voted against proscribing campaign group Palestine Action in the House of Commons last month, warning that the decision would have a catastrophic impact on the right to peacefully protest.

He said that arrests in Northern Ireland were particularly troubling given that banners and uniforms expressing support for proscribed paramilitary groups are often displayed without police action. 

The former SDLP leader said: “The scenes of pensioners being handcuffed and dragged into the back of police cars and land rovers over the weekend during peaceful protests against the genocide in Gaza were shocking. It is exactly the kind of dystopian image that we warned would happen if the British government went ahead with the extreme step of using anti-terrorism legislation to proscribe the campaign group Palestine Action. 

“Is anyone seriously arguing that it is in the public interest for pensioners, students and others to be criminalised for standing against war crimes? Is it a good use of public money for police services to be compelled to mount complex security operations that break up and shut down peaceful protest? And what impact does that coercive use of power have on the relationships between the police and the communities they serve?

“It is particularly galling to see women in their seventies dragged off and arrested in Northern Ireland for wearing Palestine Action t-shirts when masked men are able to put up flags supporting proscribed paramilitary groups with apparent impunity. It appears that people demanding peace are an easier target. 

“This is an unacceptable situation that serves no interest other than those who want the genocide to continue. It is degrading policing relationships, criminalising people undertaking lawful protest and wasting public money. The British Government should review this policy urgently.”