8 Jan 2009

British government ban protest against massacre in Gaza



This is from Britain's best daily newspaper for the politically active and aware...more from the Morning Star, please read the star, write in letters especially if you want to put another point of few, donate to them...amazing to have this kind of resource and too few people know about it.
PEACE campaigners attacked the government's "nonsensical" decision on Wednesday to ban Saturday's rally near the Israeli embassy against the brutal onslaught on Gaza.

The Stop the War Coalition said that The Royal Parks, which manages London's parkland, had told it late on Tuesday that the rally in Kensington Gardens could not go ahead on the grounds of safety and that demonstrations there were "unprecedented."

But Stop the War said that public anger at Israel's aggression was also unprecedented.

Chairman Andrew Murray vowed: "We are determined to exercise our democratic right to express that outrage in a public space near the Israeli embassy."

Mr Murray said that his organisation had learned that the decision had been made in consultation with Culture Secretary Andy Burnham and it was seeking an urgent meeting with him.

Mr Murray said: "The arrangements for our march and rally were notified to the police days ago.

"This nonsensical argument recalls government attempts to stop the rally against the Iraq war in February 2003 on the grounds that the grass in Hyde Park might be damaged."

But The Royal Parks claimed that the decision had been made without Mr Burnham's knowledge or approval.

"This was an operational decision taken by The Royal Parks and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport was advised accordingly," it said.

The march had been due to run from Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park to Kensington Gardens, circling the nearby Israeli embassy en route.

Although The Royal Parks cited safety fears as a reason to ban the protest, park officials had no problem letting tens of thousands of people gather in Kensington Gardens in 1997 to pay tribute to the late Princess Diana Spencer, leaving a mound of flowers five feet deep in places.

Protest organisers Stop the War, Palestine Solidarity Campaign and the British Muslim Initiative have asked protesters to bring their old shoes to heap up in a visual symbol of opposition to the slaughter in Gaza.

At 275 acres, Kensington Gardens is almost as big as 350-acre Hyde Park, which was used safely as the final rallying point for the 2 million-strong Iraq protest in February 2003.

Palestine Solidarity Campaign general secretary Betty Hunter said that, as well as the ban on rallying in Kensington Gardens, police would not allow marchers onto Kensington Palace Gardens, a public road.

Ms Hunter pointed out: "Tens of thousands of people from around the country want to show their disgust at Israel's immoral and illegal attacks on Gaza."

She warned The Royal Parks that, "if they ban this assembly point for the ending of the demonstration, then we will be forced to hold our rally in Kensington High Street itself."

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport refused to comment.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

What is the green party position on this massacre in Gaza?

Anonymous said...

You got to be joking.
As the Hamas flag is GREEN, what would you expect................

Anonymous said...

We should be able to protest where we want and should not be dictated to by bourgeoise laws. We are the people and we make our own rules regardless.

Derek Wall said...

Green Party is 100% against the invasion, Jean Lambert our great London MEP will be speaking on this demonstration that the pro-IDF people are trying to ban.

Both our MEPs have visited Gaza in solidarity with its people.

Anonymous said...

I am asking seriously, is it a pro Nazi Blog

Anonymous said...

No it's not pro Nazi. they're really nice people who mean well. They just fuck up a bit when Israel and the jews get mentioned

Anonymous said...

Once Israel fights for its right to exsist the dream that we are living in a world where nations are not enemies, and where national states are no longer necessary to protect us from one another, is a genuinely liberal aspiration. Israel is the major obstacle preventing the return of the golden age. Without Israel, the reasoning goes, there would be no Al Qaeda terrorists in London and Madrid, no war in Iraq, no nuclear crisis in Iran.you Jews do not need a state because you have a universal mission and Israel as a state prevents you to be one as Jews and thats why you hate it so much.

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