Press Release: Veritas Press C.I.C.
Author: Kamran Faqir
Article Date Published: 10 Aug 2025 at 18:09 GMT
Category: UK | London | Protest
Source(s): Veritas Press C.I.C. | Multi News Agencies
From the markets of Tangier to the heart of Westminster, voices rose this weekend in a unified cry: end the starvation of Gaza, lift the siege, hold those responsible for genocide to account.
Yet alongside the swelling tide of solidarity came another unmistakable pattern, the tightening grip of state repression, most dramatically seen in London’s record-breaking mass arrests.
Morocco: “We Cannot Be Silent While Children Starve”
In Tangier, northern Morocco, the old city’s narrow streets spilled into the grand square as thousands assembled with Palestinian flags and homemade banners. Al Jazeera footage captured chants that carried across the port city:
“The people want to liberate Palestine!”
“No Zionists, no Americans!”
“Palestine resists!”
Mohammed Azhari, a 26-year-old teacher, told reporters:
“We cannot be silent while children starve in Gaza. The world’s leaders debate, but the bombs keep falling and the food never arrives. This is not war — it is extermination.”
In Agadir, hundreds marched under the slogan: “Gaza… Starvation outstrips bullets… America is the enemy of Muslims and the sponsor of Zionism.” The protest, organised by the Moroccan Initiative for Support and Advocacy, drew human rights campaigners and citizens who denounced the “criminal complicity” of Western governments.
Tunisia, Turkey, And Europe: Empty Pots, Full Anger:
In Tunis, members of the Steadfastness Fleet and Palestine Supporters Association rallied outside the Municipal Theatre. Activist Leila Mansour described the rally as “a gathering of the outraged and the powerless”, adding:
“We know the siege is designed to break Gaza’s will. It will not succeed. But children are paying the price.”
In Istanbul, a 15-group coalition under the banner Palestine Support Platform led a march titled “Be Hope for Gaza”. Crowds chanted: “Murderous Israel, get out of Palestine” and “The children of Gaza are waiting for us.” Organiser Mehmet Kaya told local media:
“This is not just about Gaza. It’s about the precedent being set, that genocide can be livestreamed and the perpetrators still be welcomed in Western capitals.”
Across Amsterdam, Stockholm, Geneva, Berlin, Oslo, and even as far as Santiago, protesters banged empty cooking pots to symbolise the famine killing Palestinians. In Geneva, protesters accused the Swiss government of “collaborating with Israel” by maintaining trade and military ties. Swedish demonstrators demanded that their government sanction Israeli officials and formally recognise Palestinian sovereignty.
London: The Largest Mass Arrest In Modern Protest History.
In London, what began as a political act of defiance against the UK’s July proscription of Palestine Action became a historic confrontation over civil liberties.
By nightfall on Saturday, 522 people had been arrested under the Terrorism Act, most for holding placards reading: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”
The arrests surpassed the 339 detentions during the 1990 poll tax riots, marking the largest single-day protest arrests in modern British history.
Eyewitnesses described Parliament Square as “a fortress” of police in high-visibility jackets.
Sarah Khan, 42, a nurse from Birmingham, told Middle East Eye:
“They targeted people just for holding signs. I saw grandmothers, war veterans, and a Jewish Holocaust survivor taken away. This is what authoritarianism looks like in Britain.”
The Metropolitan Police confirmed the use of “pre-planned arrest strategies,” with Commissioner Mark Rowley having warned earlier in the week that “anyone visibly supporting a proscribed group will be detained.” But the sheer scale overwhelmed custody suites; some detainees were reportedly held on buses for hours.
Older Protesters, Harsh Laws:
Almost half of those arrested were over 60. Police data revealed:
- 97 detainees in their 70s
- 15 in their 80s
- An 89-year-old Jewish refugee who had fled Nazi Germany
- Former Guantánamo detainee Moazzam Begg
Rights organisations reacted with alarm. Amnesty UK chief executive Sacha Deshmukh called the arrests:
“An assault on the right to peacefully protest and a chilling example of how anti-terror laws are being weaponised to stifle political dissent.”
UN human rights chief Volker Turk described the proscription of Palestine Action as “disproportionate and unnecessary”, warning it could criminalise legitimate criticism of Israel.
Palestine Action’s Target: The Military Supply Chain.
Founded in 2020, Palestine Action has targeted Elbit Systems factories and facilities supplying Israel’s military. The group claimed responsibility for breaking into RAF Brize Norton in June, spray-painting transport aircraft they said were used in Israeli military operations in Gaza.
The UK government’s proscription under the Terrorism Act 2000 makes membership or support for the group punishable by up to 14 years in prison, the first time such laws have been used against a direct-action campaign.
Dr. Kamal Hawash, chair of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said in a statement:
“This is a political manoeuvre to silence the loudest voices against the UK’s complicity in Israeli war crimes. Meanwhile, weapons components are still leaving British factories for Israel.”
Analysts: Britain’s Civil Liberties Stress Test.
Political analyst Dr. Aisha Rahman told the Guardian:
“We’re witnessing the securitisation of dissent. Britain is setting a precedent where solidarity with an oppressed people can be reframed as terrorism. This is the same logic Israel uses to criminalise Palestinian civil society.”
The Defend Our Juries campaign, which has staged weekly demonstrations since the ban, said mass arrests have become “badges of honour” among activists, but warned that the UK prison system, already at 97.5% capacity, cannot sustain this level of political detention.
Gaza: The Context No Government Can Ignore.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel’s assault on Gaza has killed more than 100,000 Palestinians, injured 377,000, mostly women and children, left over 12,000 missing, and driven famine conditions that, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, have already killed 175 people, including 93 children.
International humanitarian agencies say Israel is weaponising food, in defiance of International Court of Justice orders to facilitate aid.
Mariam Abed, a Gaza mother interviewed via video link at the Geneva rally, broke down in tears:
“We boil grass for our children. And you are arrested in London for saying you support us? What has the world become?”
A Global Movement Meets A Global Wall:
The protests from Tangier to London show a rising moral refusal to normalise genocide. But they also reveal a growing international alignment of governments against protest movements, especially when those movements target Israeli policies.
As the legal battles over Palestine Action’s proscription move to the High Court, the question is not just whether Britain will lift the ban, but whether the right to protest itself will survive the political climate forged by this war.
Tags:
Leave a Reply