Chris Nineham

Stop prosecuting protest, say Britain’s union leaders

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 Police officers watch as people take part in a national march for Palestine on Whitehall in central London, January 18, 2025

22 general secretaries sign joint statement demanding charges be dropped against Alex Kenny, Sophie Bolt, Ben Jamal and Chris Nineham over peaceful Palestine demo in January

TWENTY-TWO union general secretaries raised “deep concern about the erosion of the right to peaceful protest” in an open letter today, urging the Metropolitan Police to drop charges against four Palestine march leaders.

Paul Nowak of the TUC, Christina McAnea of Unison, Sharon Graham of Unite and the National Education Union (NEU’s) Daniel Kebede were among those who said that the charges against former union members who took part in peaceful protest on January 18 mark “an attack on our right to protest.”

The signatories together represent the vast majority of British trade union members.

The former NEU executive member Alex Kenny and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament general secretary Sophie Bolt were arrested alongside more than 70 other people including director of Palestine Solidarity Campaign Ben Jamal and Chris Nineham, the vice-chair of the Stop the War coalition.

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and ex-shadow chancellor John McDonnell were also voluntarily interviewed under caution in relation to the march.

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Continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/stop-prosecuting-protest-say-britains-union-leaders

Continue ReadingStop prosecuting protest, say Britain’s union leaders

‘We have got to uphold the right to protest’

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A protest outside Westminster Magistrates’ Court, February 13, 2025 Photo: Jennie Walsh

Hundreds protest outside Westminster Magistrates’ Court as Stop the War Coalition and Palestine Solidarity Campaign activists attend court

HUNDREDS rallied outside Westminster Magistrates’ Court today to demand the government stop criminalising protest.

The large and noisy protest was held outside the court in support of Palestine marches chief steward Chris Nineham, who had his first court appearance today.

Mr Nineham, also long-standing vice-chair of the Stop the War Coalition, was violently arrested by police at the end of an entirely peaceful protest for Palestine in London last month.

He has been charged, together with Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) director Ben Jamal, with breaches of the Public Order Act.

Mr Jamal’s own hearing is next week. His was among 77 arrests made by police at the demonstration.

Demonstrators heard speeches linking the state attack on the right to protest with the overriding issue of solidarity with the Palestinian people.

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/we-have-got-to-uphold-the-right-to-protest

Continue Reading‘We have got to uphold the right to protest’

We will ‘break your climate of fear’, peace activists warn police and politicians

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Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, MP John McDonnell (front, fourth from left) and Khalid Abdalla (front row third from right) join people taking part in a national march for Palestine on Whitehall in central London, January 20, 2025

PEACE campaigners vowed to “break the climate of fear” fed by intensified police repression in a weekend rally to defend protest rights.

Hundreds gathered in Bethnal Green’s Atrium to discuss the Metropolitan Police’s mass detentions of marchers, including the violent arrest of chief steward Chris Nineham, at a Palestine solidarity demonstration on January 18, and the subsequent decision to charge Mr Nineham, Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) director Ben Jamal and others with public order offences.

Mr Jamal said the policing that day was “an escalation of repression by the state against our movement.

“Very clearly in my view, the police sought to provoke scenes of disorder on the streets. They began arresting people very early for the crime of standing in the wrong bit of Whitehall at the wrong moment. They brought empty coaches to transport to police stations those they intended to arrest… despite the fact that every single one of our protests has been peaceful and has had a low rate of arrest.”

The PSC leader said police intended to create “a scene of chaos and disorder that would create the political climate to enable [Home Secretary] Yvette Cooper to go into Parliament and announce she was banning all future marches.

“They did not succeed… [because] this is a peaceful and disciplined movement.”

The Metropolitan Police deny having tried to provoke disorder and referred the Morning Star to a previous statement accusing marchers of “a deliberate effort, involving organisers of the demonstration,” to breach the conditions they had imposed on the march, which included blocking a protest outside the BBC.

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Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/we-will-break-your-climate-fear-peace-activists-warn-police-and-politicians

Keir Starmer confirms that his government is cnutier than Suella Braverman on killing the right to protest.
Keir Starmer confirms that his government is cnutier than Suella Braverman on killing the right to protest.
Continue ReadingWe will ‘break your climate of fear’, peace activists warn police and politicians

Over 40 legal experts demand probe into Met’s policing of Palestine demonstration

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Police officers at a national march for Palestine in central London, January 18, 2025

OVER 40 legal experts have signed a letter to the Home Secretary demanding an independent investigation into the Met’s policing of London’s pro-Palestine protest at the weekend.

Saturday’s rally was met with a heavy-handed police presence which saw the arrest of 77 protesters — the most at any national demonstration for Palestine.

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Organisers said there were a “series of complex restrictions” preventing people from assembling at Whitehall at various times, which resulted in arrests on “ flimsy pretexts including simply for inadvertently standing in this central area at the wrong time.”

The Met claims that protesters broke through police lines in a co-ordinated effort to breach the conditions.

But protest organisers backed by video footage contest this, stating that a small delegation, including an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor, who were seeking permission to lay flowers, were invited through.

Among those arrested was Stop the War’s Chris Nineham, chief steward of the protest, who has since been banned from attending demonstrations as part of his bail conditions.

Ben Jamal, director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign which helped organise the protest, was also subsequently charged with offences under the Public Order Act.

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/over-40-legal-experts-demand-probe-mets-policing-palestine-demonstration

Continue ReadingOver 40 legal experts demand probe into Met’s policing of Palestine demonstration