Your accounts
…your experiences (please comment)…
Please leave a personal account in the comments section below of your experiences at the demonstration’s in London in protest of the attacks on Gaza in 2008/2009. It is important that we compile a detailed collection of reports – your experience of the police’s behaviour on the different days is extremely important. If you would prefer to email us your accounts of the protests, our email is gazademosupport@gmail.com
Segment of letter to Morning Star (full letter available at http://gazademosupport.org.uk/articles/letter-to-the-morning-star%E2%80%A6/#more-498 )
…I was also on the Gaza demonstration in London last year. I witnessed the behaviour of the Metropolitan Police. They covered up their identification badges, “kettled” the crowd and pushed us against the metal barriers. As I was appealing for calm I was beaten unconscious and hospitalised…
On 10th January 2009 the march was fine until we reached some gates at the north side of the park. Someone had climbed on a monument or wall and was waving a flag. The police in this area were using batons on the crowd. The situation was tense, and in the ebb and flow of the densely packed crowd I lost a woman I had been talking to on the march, who I’d met in Hyde Park.
From this point on the march moved fairly swiftly round to the area by the embassy, but it was held up and we could not move forward, to where I anticipated there being a platform for speakers etc. We were stuck and packed in. A few people lit flags, or small fireworks, but nothing too serious. An Italian football crowd would think nothing of it, most probably. It had got dark, the riot police seemed to be more than expecting trouble: from their demeanor I’d say many of them were looking forward to it.I had experienced some of their kettling the previous Saturday, the way they shouted at and ordered people about. Many had their numbers covered.
I had taken an old pair of shoes of my daughters, imagining there would be a symbolic pile of children’s shoes outside the embassy gates, given the numbers of dead Palestinian children Israel was responsible for. I intended placing these down by hand in the street outside the embassy. I did not wish to throw them toward the lines of police, as they were not exactly showing great restraint. I’m not the sort of person to provoke violent confrontation if I can avoid it, although I support dissent where necessary. The riot police eventually charged at the crowd, breaking us up. As they did this I threw one of the shoes straight at them, in self-defence you might say. I was a few yards back from the embassy gates so was prevented from reaching where I had intended to lay them down. It all got chaotic from this point on, Starbucks got it’s windows smashed a few minutes later. I decided not to hang about and I got out down a side street and walked back to Victoria.
I’ve been very shocked by what I consider the politically motivated sentencing of the Gaza demonstrators caught up in the trouble. I can’t help wondering how many months in prison throwing a child’s shoe at a line of advancing riot police would get me if I was young, muslim and caught on their cctv?
Message received from Ana – 02/04/2010
Hello! Me and my partner were at the Gaza demo. We weren’t at the Starbucks or the Embassy kettle- but between the embassy and the final rally point. The police had lined up with Horses and had shields and batons etc. It started to remind me of the Peterloo massacre, so we moved to the side to avoid getting trampled when it kicked off. Demonstrators gathered the metal barriers and made lines of barricades for our own protection. The police charged, they threw the barriers out of the way so protesters ran back and remade the barricades. The police were behaving very violently, even with the barriers- it was clear that some wanted to hurt people. Then riot police showed up I saw a few people including small muslim women being thrown on the ground and hit. We moved to the pavement to avoid trouble. A police van started to drive forwards and reverse very fast into protesters to try and hit them- so they hit back. Then a line of police came over to us and ordered us to ‘Get back on the pavement’…we said no, coz we were an inch off the pavement and there were a lot of people behind me so I couldnt- and I didnt want to. One hit my partner in the face with his shield (a lot of people saw it), two hit me in the stomach with shields and another raised his baton to hit us but stopped. We got pushed back and then they tried to move us away from that area. Earlier I had heard police swearing at individuals but they had their faces covered so you couldn’t see. They were standing in the Park behind the railings.
Outside the embassy earlier my partner had been part of the crowd but got out when he realised that they were being kettled. The crowd there was dense, however the police pushed back the crowd from the front which caused a lot of panic – similarly this happened when reinforcements such as horses or riot squad reinforcements were brought in. People were crushed against each other, with the crowd being pushed backwards and moving in various directions – but because of the thickness of the crowd no one was able to turn around or leave if they needed to. A number of people panicked, fearing that if they fell they would be crushed by the crowd (it was so thick that you could not look down and see the floor in most cases). This is a tactic that has been repeated over and over, with the police seemingly deaf to calls that people are not able to move back because of the density of people and that their actions are clearly causing panic, confusion and danger. Eventually getting out of there, he later heard a rumor (thankfully untrue) that someone had been killed in the crush. This is mentioned only because it seemed perfectly plausible at the time – and it was only luck that prevented something tragic like this actually happening. Good luck in the campaign! Free Palestine- And the supporters of Palestine!
I went to the demonstrations outside the Israeli everyday during the Israeli attack on Gaza, and I went to the two national demonstrations, I was in the front line outside the embassy on the first demo and i remember there were thousands of people behind us and the police in front of us (after the barriers) and all of a sudden just as a blind Palestinian man got pushed to the front the police started pushing people back (although there was nowhere to go) after a few minutes of pushing the police started hitting people and one of the police officers hit the blind man in the face with his shield, till then everyone had been very peaceful, but after people started protesting that the policeman had hit a blind man in the face everything went mad the police realising they had gone too far started hitting anyone and everyone. I still find it traumatising to think about those days it I found myself pushed onto a car and being attacked by police dogs, pushed over barriers by two police officer because I was taking photographs, smoke bombed and baton charged.
I went to the majority of the Gaza demonstrations. I witnessed many counts of police violence. Although I did not see this man (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLLRjS2LCfg) get hit, I saw him immediately after he had been hit (just before that video was taken), and I saw that the police were covering up their numbers with their hands.
I saw young men being hit with batons, shields being used to forcefully push protesters as we were kettled. Onto the kettling, large numbers of riot police in full riot gear swarmed around us and divided us into 3 groups: one down a side street, and two on High Street Ken. We were held for HOURS, unable to leave, it was cold, dark and late. When we eventually were “allowed” to leave ( I had asked the police when we would be able to return home to which I was told, “We’re just following orders”) we (only a couple at a time) had to walk through a corridor of police, that is to say – police were standing (and some on horses) either side of us. Protestors who had Palestinian flags or banners were stop-searched.
One night, we sat down on Kensington High Street in the road to show we were there protesting peacefully. The police put their boots very close to our faces, literally 15 cms from our faces. They also forced protestors from their seating position. That night, i saw a protestor take a photo of a policeman on his phone, the phone was snatched out of his hands by said policeman, and he refused to give it back.
I am sure more accounts will come back to me, these are preliminary instances that have come to mind. I was absolutely DISGUSTED by the way the police behaved. Luckily I was not in the underpass the day that many protesters chose to walk from Trafalgar Square to the Israeli Embassy.
ONE last thing I would like to add, although not wholly relevant, is the contrast in the way the anti-war and pro-Israeli protesters were treated. One evening, a pro-Israeli protest was organised to commence after the Gaza one. The Gaza protest was still going on when the Israeli protest started. I did not attend either protest. I came out of High St. Ken tube station to see that police were escorting pro-Israeli protesters to their allocated spot, which was separated from the other protest by several police vans. Furthermore, the police were facing the Gaza protesters, but facing AWAY from the Israeli protesters. I was not permitted to join the Gaza protesters, so i stood in the middle and observed the Israeli protesters insulting the Gaza protesters, hurling abuse and swearing at the Gaza protesters, the whole time being physically protected by the police.
It is disgraceful that so many face hefty sentences. I in no way condone violence or agression of any kind, but this is beyond reason.
If by doing this they hope to quell future protests, my god, they have got it so wrong.
I had no idea that so many people had actually been jailed over this. Really sickening.
Derek Hall
April 1, 2010 at 7:55am
(originally posted in ‘Show your support for the prisoners’ section)
I was at the protest and saw how the police provoked a response when they kettled (if that’s what it’s called) very aggressively, men, women and children. Myself, my sister and brother in law were crushed by very aggressive police, and many young muslim men were hit for no reason. The protest was peaceful prior to this. What I saw after this was terrifying; there was a steady stream of men and women, young and old passing through the packed crowd with serious injuries. Like the Israeli attacks on Gaza, this police action was totally disproportionate.
To learn that 65 people have been jailed because of police aggression makes me wonder what kind of country we live in. It certainly isn’t a free one. You’d think this was China when you see police hitting women and hear that they haven’t been charged for it. It stinks of corruption.
I did put a complaint into the police complaints commission but withdrew it when my CRB hadn’t been processed after 9 weeks.
The police offended many of us, in some cases, violent to an extent.. some were taking picture of sisters who did not want to be on a strangers camera, she ended up in an argument due to this, another pushed a sister for walking on a side she was not meant to be walking in… however she was not aware she was not supposed to..