PALESTINE Solidarity Campaign (PSC) director Ben Jamal denied breaching anti-protest laws during last month’s Gaza demonstration in central London as he appeared in court today, ahead of a trial that will see two senior Metropolitan Police officers hauled before a judge.

Crusading human rights lawyer Gareth Peirce and left MP John McDonnell watched proceedings as scores of chanting supporters laid flowers representing Palestinian lives outside Westminster magistrates’ court. 

Mr McDonnell and former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn MP, both interviewed by Scotland Yard after the protest in Whitehall on January 18, are waiting to hear if they will be charged after joining a delegation that was violently prevented by police officers from laying flowers in memory of Gaza’s children.

Speaking outside the court, Mr McDonnell urged prosecutors to drop the case against Mr Jamal as well as the march’s chief steward Chris Nineham, vice-president of the Stop the War Coalition, both of whom deny breaching police conditions on the protest made under the Public Order Act.

Mr McDonnell said that “it came as a shock” when police called him in for under-caution interviews a day after the demonstration, and that he and Mr Corbyn currently await a decision from the Crown Prosecution Service.

The former shadow chancellor described how police prevented the delegation he was in from laying flowers in Whitehall, after being barred from laying them at Broadcasting House in protest over the BBC’s coverage of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

“We were told we could have a rally in Whitehall and that’s what we did,” he said.

“The Whitehall rally I think was deeply respectful. We weren’t allowed to march, so we agreed to take a procession to the first police line to lay flowers and that’s what we did.

“I’ve never been called to a police station before for using a chrysanthemum as an offensive weapon.”

An officer told them the delegation could not cross a police line in order to lay flowers, Mr McDonnell said, with another later saying they would check.

Mr Nineham was arrested — alongside more than 70 marchers that day — before the delegation got a response and followed Mr Jamal’s instructions “to lay the flowers and disperse,” he said.

“These demonstrations have always been peaceful, so therefore it came as a real shock to me that [Mr Jamal] got charged.

“Frankly, if they can charge or prosecute [him], nobody is safe — nobody who seeks to protest on any issue in Britain will be safe from the prosecution and harassment that we’ve seen in the last few weeks.

“We turned up on the day itself because we were anxious and deeply worried about what would happen to secure the ceasefire, to secure peace and a long-term future for Gaza and the Palestinians.

“We were desperate to see the end of what has been described as the start of the next genocide.”

Mr Nineham told the rally outside court: “I’ve never in my life experienced the restrictions, obstacles and direct political police interference [towards] this movement for peace and justice.”

Senior politicians were involved in the Met Police’s decision to question the socialist MPs, said former National Education Union general secretary Kevin Courtney.

“It’s impossible to believe that the police did that without at least a token political sign-off,” he said.

Wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf, Mr Jamal raised his fist as he entered the court building and spoke only to confirm his full name and date of birth as he entered pleas of not guilty to three counts of breaching the Public Order Act.

These were two counts of inciting public assembly participants to breach conditions imposed under the Public Order Act and being the organiser of the public assembly.

Mr Jamal’s lawyer Owen Greenhall, of Garden Court Chambers, said that his defence will rely on an abuse of process and require the Met Police’s gold and silver commanders, present at the demonstration, to be cross-examined at trial.

District Judge John Snow released Mr Jamal on unconditional bail before a three-day trial at the court, starting on July 23.

Speaking after the hearing, Mr Jamal told the Morning Star: “I will vigorously contest all of the charges: they represent the state using draconian anti-protest laws as a threat to the rights of everybody.

“It’s also an attempt to silence the voice of Palestinians, isolate them in their struggle for freedom.

“That will not happen today: we are in court defending the right to protest. We will not be silenced.”

Mr Nineham meanwhile faces a two-day trial at City of London magistrates’ court on July 7.

Ms Peirce, a high-profile supporter of Mr Jamal, has worked on several influential cases including the Guildford Four and Birmingham Six, wrongly convicted of pub bombings carried out by the Provisional IRA, and mineworkers at the Battle of Orgreave.