Hundreds of Palestine activists vow to march through Birmingham despite police arrests

Birmingham: “The police do not have the right to tell us when and where we can assemble,” say defiant organisers

Organisers of a mass pro-Palestine protest march in Birmingham this Saturday have vowed to go ahead despite arrests of activists in London during a similar protest last weekend.

Hundreds of people are expected to descend on the city for a large rally, expressing solidarity with the people of Gaza, amid a tense temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Following over 70 arrests in London during a Stop the War Coalition (StWC) and Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) protest on Saturday 18 January, West Midlands activists have said they won’t be intimidated by any attempts from law enforcement to do the same in Birmingham.

“There was a huge quelling of protest in London last weekend, I was there and saw police arrest fellow protesters including chief steward Chris Nineham, who is the vice chair of our national organisation,” said Rob Horsfield, secretary of Birmingham Stop the War Coalition.

“These protests are taking place because the Palestine genocide is still ongoing, they say there’s a ceasefire but we saw ten people were killed by Israeli security forces only this week in Jenin.

“So this demonstration is really about both protecting our civil liberties and making sure that we we stand up and we’re not silent when the genocide keeps going on.”

Dozens of prominent UK legal scholars have described the recent arrests as a “disproportionate, unwarranted and dangerous assault on the right to assembly and protest in Britain”.

Beginning at 12pm this Saturday (25 January) in Sparkhill Park, the “Hands Off Palestine” march will make its way through city streets before heading into Victoria Square in the city centre.

“We still have a dreadful situation going on where the Lancet estimated that over 70,000 people are dead in Gaza, and there’s no guarantee that that ceasefire is going to be worth the paper it’s written on; so we’ve got to keep going out, keep being strong, and keep voicing our descent to what our government is supporting,” added Rob.

“We will march, we will march, this is too important for us to be ignored. The police do not have the right to tell us when and where we can assemble, they do not have the right to tell us whether we can or cannot march, and they do not have the right to tell us what we can express our opinions about.

“This is supposed to be a free country, it’s supposed to be a democracy. We can’t afford to have the police stopping us from protesting, especially when so many people have been killed.”

The Birmingham protest march is being organised by an alliance of groups including Birmingham Stop the War Coalition, West Midlands Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Muslim Association of Britain, Jeremy Corbyn’s Peace and Justice Project, Birmingham Trades Union Council, Activist Independent Movement, Health Workers 4 Palestine, and Alum Rock Friends of Palestine.

Planning group member Duncan Ali said: “As we write, the number of those killed in Gaza and the Occupied West Bank is 46,000, the huge majority of them not participating in any armed struggle at all. This figure includes almost 20,000 children and large numbers of health workers. How can we stand by and do nothing?”

Ofrah Muflahi, Birmingham resident and director of the British Arab Nursing and Midwifery Association, and organising member, said: “In the last 15 months, we have seen health care systems and  health care staff targeted. The global movement of our health care workers has been our strength throughout and a source of power and resilience, and a model for humanity across the world.”

National speakers attending the march and rally include former Labour MP Chris Williamson, anti-apartheid activist and Jewish Israeli dissident Yael Kahn, human rights lawyer Tasnime Akunjee; and suspended University of Birmingham students Antonia Listrat and Mariyah Ali, both currently facing disciplinary action for pro-Palestinian activism on campus.

The Lancet medical journal’s latest estimates of the Gaza death toll during the first nine months of the Israeli war on Gaza is believed to be 40% higher than numbers recorded by the Palestinian territory’s health ministry.

The journal places the figure at 64,260 dead, not including deaths from a lack of healthcare or food, or the thousands of civilians believed to still be buried under rubble created by ongoing Israeli military attacks.