Peace campaigners warned the government today that “we will not stop” in the face of attacks on free speech as they denounced an attempt to “make an example” out of two major leaders of Britain’s Palestine solidarity movement.
Activists were joined by MPs, trade union leaders and artists to denounce the “completely unjustified prosecution” of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign director Ben Jamal and Stop the War Coalition vice-chair Chris Nineham.
Both have played key roles in organising the national demonstrations in support of Palestine since the start of the genocide in Gaza in 2023.
They appeared at Westminster magistrates’ court today to face public order offences linked to a demonstration in London on January 18 2025.
Police imposed restrictions on the march, barring activists from walking past the BBC Broadcasting House in London, where they were to lay flowers in memory of Gaza’s murdered children.
Today’s trial drew a large crowd chanting: “Defend the right to protest, drop the charges now!”
Speaking outside the court, Stop the War convener Lindsey German said: “The people who should be in the dock are Netanyahu, Keir Starmer and David Lammy.
“They have facilitated and allowed a genocide. We are the people standing up to it. And we will not stop. We will not stop organising.
“We have had 43 national demonstrations. Every single one of them has had restrictions put upon them by the Metropolitan Police.
“What is the aim of that? The aim is to stop people from protesting.
“There is no justification to do so. Our demonstrations have included people from every community, and they have been there to stand up for the Palestinian people.”
Her sentiment was echoed by Stop the War colleague Alex Kenny, who along with CND general secretary Sophie Bolt, will face a trial starting on March 10 facing similar charges.
“Criticising genocide is not only legitimate, it is necessary,” he said.
“We will not stop because a world that tolerates genocide is a world that can tolerate any atrocity, any crime, any violation of rights.
“Those who protest it should be thanked, not put on trial.”
Civil Service union PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote and transport union TSSA general secretary Maryam Eslamdoust joined the protests.
Ms Eslamdoust told the Morning Star she thinks the trials were meant to have a chilling effect on peace protests.
“The Establishment is trying to make an example of Ben and Chris,” she said.
“They are telling people that if you protest too loudly, if you mobilise too many people, we will make an example out of you. It’s now our duty to protect them.”
Left-wing MPs Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell spoke alongside actors Juliet Stevenson and Khalid Abdalla as well as musician Brian Eno.
Calling Palestine “the cause of our time,” the former Labour leader warned the government to stop its “endless and unbelievable” attacks on “right to speech, the right to protest, the right to be heard.”
He said: “They have tried endlessly to restrict the right to protest.”
Referring to the recently overturned decision to proscribe Palestine Action, he added: “The idea of criminalising those who take part in non-violent direct action is a disgrace beyond belief.”
Mr McDonnell called for mass mobilisation to “protect our civil liberties,” which he said were under attack.
Discussing legislation currently making its way through Parliament which could grant police new powers to curb repeated protests if the “cumulative impact” is deemed important enough, he asked for people to join a protest at the House of Commons on March 17.
The court heard today that an “interminable blizzard of materials” was dumped by the prosecution just days before the trial was to start, causing it to be postponed.
Some 800 pages of new material was served by the CPS, which defence barrister Mark Summers said took time away from usual preparation, and the prosecution acknowledged that this was the case.
“It is a matter of days since we met for a pre-trial review and since then there has been an interminable blizzard of materials,” he told the court.
The judge granted an adjournment until Thursday and ordered the prosecution, as requested by the defence, to disclose the body-worn camera evidence and statements of all the police officers who were in a particular area at the top of Whitehall, described as “cordon 1,” which the prosecution had resisted doing.
Source: Morning Star