Lawyer slams prosecution on final day Palestine Solidarity Campaign director Ben Jamal and Stop the War Coalition vice-chair Chris Nineham’s trial
Lawyer slams prosecution on final day Palestine Solidarity Campaign director Ben Jamal and Stop the War Coalition vice-chair Chris Nineham’s trial
THE Crown’s case against two leaders of the Palestine movement was called a “ludicrous invitation to criminalise legitimate protected political speech about the misuse of state power against people’s civil liberties” today.
Defence barrister Mark Summers KC castigated the prosecution on the final day of the trial of Palestine Solidarity Campaign director Ben Jamal and Stop the War Coalition vice-chair Chris Nineham at Westminster magistrates’ court.
He described their actions in the run up to the January 18 2025 Palestine protest as nothing more than those of civic organisations engaging in political campaigning in a democracy.
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Officers in the control room and on the ground were in complete ignorance of the plan for a “flower delegation” to walk towards the BBC to lay flowers, even though it had been announced by Mr Jamal from the stage.
If stopped by police, the delegation would lay the flowers at their feet.
This Mr Summers said was a “sensible, symbolic proposal” and could only have succeeded with police permission.
He said: “From beginning to end, events had been a humourless Ealing comedy. At no point did either side understand the intentions of the other.”
At the police cordons the delegation believed they had been permitted to walk through police lines.
In footage from a police body-worn camera, not previously disclosed by the prosecution, an officer was heard telling the delegation: “You’ve got to filter through. Filter, Take your time getting through.”
Mr Summers asked: “Why would it occur to them that they were being instructed by the police to do something unlawful?”
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Keir Starmer explains that UK is participating defensively in Trump and Israel’s criminal war for Israel’s genocidal expansion in Iran and states that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Starmer said it here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
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Protesters wave flags and banners reading “Stop Bombing Iran” and “Stop Bombing the Middle East” as they gather at Victoria Tower Gardens before marching toward the United States Embassy to protest the war in the Middle East in London, United Kingdom, on March 07, 2026. [Stuart Brock – Anadolu Agency]
Thousands of anti-war demonstrators on Saturday marched through central London, calling for an immediate halt to US and Israeli military operations against Iran and an end to arms sales to Israel, Anadolu reports.
According to the Manchester Evening News, the protest drew between 5,000 and 6,000 participants, based on estimates from the Metropolitan Police.
The rally began at Millbank near Victoria Tower Gardens at noon and was organized by a coalition of activist groups, including the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), Stop the War Coalition and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
Protesters marched toward the US Embassy carrying placards reading “Stop Trump’s Wars” and “No War on Iran,” while others waved Iranian and Palestinian flags.
Some demonstrators also carried portraits of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Organizers described the military strikes as “illegal” and warned that escalating conflict could place millions of civilians at risk across the Middle East.
Chris Nineham, vice-chair of the Stop the War Coalition, said the situation represented one of “the most dangerous global moments in decades.”
“(US President Donald) Trump and (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu are creating murder and mayhem across the Middle East. They are risking spreading war across the Middle East, and they are creating the conditions of volatility and instability around the world, and what is disgraceful is that our government is allowing British bases to be used to promote this mayhem,” Nineham said in a video posted on social media from the protest.
He added that many people in Britain opposed the war and called for a broad and vocal movement to mobilize against the conflict and advocate for peace.
Tensions in the Middle East have escalated since the US and Israel launched a large-scale attack on Iran on Feb. 28, killing more than 1,000 people, including Khamenei and over 150 schoolgirls, and senior military officials.
Iran has retaliated with sweeping barrages of its own that have targeted US bases, diplomatic facilities, and military personnel across the region, as well as multiple Israeli cities.
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Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.Donald Trump warns against following the https://onaquietday.org blog, says that it’s easy atm, she only needs to report war crimes supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion.Orcas discuss rotting brain. Front Orca says “Wish someone would lock him up”.
Police officers watch as people take part in a national march for Palestine on Whitehall in central London, January 18, 2025
CHRIS NINEHAM, who along with Ben Jamal, is one of the activists facing trial over a Gaza demo last year, talks to Ben Chacko about the state’s increasing use of force against peaceful protest, and the significance of increasing imperial aggression around the globe
ON MONDAY, protesters will rally outside Westminster Magistrates’ Court at 9am calling for all charges against Chris Nineham and Ben Jamal to be dropped.
The Defend the Right to Protest rally will be addressed by MPs including Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell, trade union leaders including Fran Heathcote and Maryam Eslamdoust, and leading voices from the arts and entertainment world such as Brian Eno, Juliet Stevenson and Khalid Abdalla.
It’s the morning Nineham and Jamal face trial on charges relating to a protest over a year ago — the January 18 2025 national march for Palestine.
Police had imposed restrictions on the march, saying it could not proceed to lay flowers in memory of Gaza’s murdered children outside the BBC as planned. Instructions were confusing, with demonstrators told they could and could not be in certain parts of central London depending on the time. Mass arrests followed alleged breaches of these conditions and Jamal, the director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, and Nineham, the chief steward of the march, found themselves charged with public order offences.
“This is only happening because of the restrictions put on this demonstration in particular and on Palestine demonstrations more generally,” Nineham explains.
“Since October 2023, we’ve seen an unprecedented change in the way peaceful protests are policed.
“I’ve been involved in organising demonstrations since the beginning of the century, and we’ve never had every single demo slapped with restrictions on where people can and can’t go.
“We’ve never had a situation where police are so intrusive on demos — looking not just at what placards people are holding but the T-shirts they’re wearing, the books that are on the stalls.
“This is political policing. And if police are the arbiters of where you can march, when you can march, how often you can march, which is in the pipeline — then you need state permission to demonstrate, and are approaching a situation where this isn’t a democracy at all, especially in association with all the cases around Palestine Action and the arrests there of people for holding the wrong placard and so on.”
Chris Nineham: “This is the most authoritarian government in living memory”
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAKeir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
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People carrying Palestinian flags and banners, stage a demonstration and march to Wembley Stadium demanding Israel’s suspension from UEFA and FIFA, in London, United Kingdom on October 2, 2025. [Raşid Necati Aslım – Anadolu Agency]
Tens of thousands of signatures have been collected in England for a petition demanding that Israel be banned from international football over its actions in Gaza and calling for the cancellation of a match between Aston Villa and Maccabi Tel Aviv, Anadolu reports.
The petition, launched by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign in the UK and signed by 25,000 people, was delivered to the Football Association at Wembley Stadium by the platform’s director, Lewis Backon.
Backon said outside Wembley Stadium that teams from a state responsible for genocide and apartheid should not be playing in international football competitions.
Aston Villa will face Maccabi Tel Aviv at home in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday.
West Midlands Police had classified the match as “high risk” based on current intelligence and past incidents, while the Safety Advisory Group, comprised of police, the municipality and security experts, had announced that away fans would not be allowed into the stadium.
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Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA
Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks to members of staff during a visit to Leonardo, one of the biggest suppliers of defense and security equipment to the UK MOD, on May 2, 2025, in Luton, England. Henry Nicholls – WPA Pool / Getty Images
Pro-Palestine advocates say the announcement is a publicity stunt that will do little to end the genocide.
The U.K. government said on Tuesday that it is suspending free trade talks with Israel and imposing sanctions on some settlements in the occupied West Bank over Israel’s recent escalation in Gaza — an announcement being slammed by pro-Palestine advocates as “grotesquely inadequate.”
In remarks to Parliament, Foreign Secretary David Lammy criticized Israel’s recent escalation of its assault on Gaza and its lengthy total aid blockade on the region. He said that Israel’s plan to forcibly displace all Palestinians from Gaza is “morally unjustifiable” and “wholly disproportionate.”
“History will judge them,” Lammy said, ignoring the role of the U.K. and leaders of his own party in allowing Israel’s genocide to reach this point. “Blocking aid. Expanding the war. Dismissing the concerns of your friends and partners. This is indefensible. And it must stop.”
He said that the government is levying sanctions on three individuals and four entities involved in settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank.
The announcement came after U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was “horrified by the escalation,” following a joint statement with the French and Canadian governments threatening “concrete action” against Israel and calling for a ceasefire on Monday.
The U.K. has been in negotiations for a new free trade agreement with Israel since 2022, launched under conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Lammy said the existing trade agreement between the two governments is still in effect.
The U.K. has long faced criticism from advocates for Palestinian rights for the government’s support of Israel.
The Labour government announced shortly after taking control last year that it was suspending 29 of the U.K.’s 350 arms licenses to Israel, in a departure from the conservative government. However, data analyzed by pro-Palestine groups has shown that the U.K. has exported thousands of munitions to Israel since the suspension took effect — raising questions over whether the U.K. continued supposedly suspended shipments of F-35 jet parts.
Advocates for Palestinian rights said that the government’s actions do not erase the U.K.’s deep complicity in the genocide.
“Today could be a turning point, where the government begins to undo the depths of its complicity in Israel’s genocide, by treating Israel not as an ally, but as a rogue state carrying out atrocities. Or, without further action, it will be recognised as just a last ditch attempt to salvage its reputation as a government that has enabled these crimes,” the group said.
“Suspending the trade negotiations is a positive step forward but without bolder action this will have little impact. Without suspending parts for Israeli F-35 fighter jets, the UK Government remains complicit in the deaths of thousands of civilians across Gaza,” said Halima Begum, Oxfam GB’s executive director, in a statement.
“The Foreign Secretary should now suspend all arms exports to Israel and impose a full package of sanctions on political leaders and settlers in Israel who are seeking to erase Palestine from the map,” Begum went on.
Meanwhile, following Lammy’s announcement, left-wing members of Parliament grilled Lammyto account for arms exports to Israel, which have soared under Labour, but he refused to answer.
“I just asked the Foreign Secretary why arms sales to Israel under this Labour government now exceed those under the Tories. He dismissed it as ‘clickbait,’” said MP Zarah Sultana on social media. “There’s nothing clickbait about genocide. He has Palestinian blood on his hands.”
UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAVote For Genocide Vote Labour.
Police officers watch as people take part in a national march for Palestine on Whitehall in central London, January 18, 2025
