Next week’s trial of Chris Nineham, the vice chair of the Stop the War Coalition and chief steward of the national Palestine demonstrations, and Ben Jamal, director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, for alleged breaches of the Public Order Act is an attack on the millions of people who have taken part in peaceful and democratic mobilisations for Palestine over the past 21 months.
Stop the War is calling on all supporters of the Palestine movement to get involved and help publicise the case by supporting our social media campaign from Wednesday 2 July, as well as joining the protest outside the court on Monday morning (7 July).
Chris Nineham said: “This trial is an attack on the heart of the peaceful, democratic movement that has organised nearly 30 national demonstrations in London and countless other actions up and down the country since October 2023 to demand an end to Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
“It is an attack on anyone who has ever joined a march for Palestine. It is a fundamental attack on the right to protest. So we’re asking everyone who can to come to our protest outside the court on Monday morning and also to post pictures and videos on social media they have taken at past Palestine marches and demonstrations of themselves, their family and friends or just of the crowds, with flags, banners and placards. From tomorrow (2 July) post as many as possible using the hashtags #FreeBenAndChris and #InOurMillions to try to get the trial trending.
Protestors outside the court at 9am on Monday will include the actors Khalid Abdalla and Juliet Stevenson, musician Brian Eno, Holocaust survivor Stephen Kapos, MPs Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell, StWC convenor Lindsey German, journalist Owen Jones and trade union leader Daniel Kebede, with more to be announced.
Chris added: “Thank you to the thousands of people who have made it clear that they stand with me and Ben and with everyone arrested on the 18 January peaceful protest. I’m looking forward to making my case in court. Our campaign to defend the right to protest is one we need to win.”
Notes
The Defend the Right to Protest demonstration takes place on Monday 7 July at 9am outside the City of London Magistrates Court near Bank Station. More details here
We are asking all our supporters who have ever been on a national march or taken part in a local action to get involved in our campaign to defend the right to protest by posting pictures or videos from a past march or demonstration of themselves, their family and friends, or just of the crowd, on their favourite social media platforms using the hashtags #FreeBenAndChris and #InOurMillions.
The Palestine Coalition’s statement on the events of 18 January are here