NEWS that eight more leaders of the Palestine solidarity movement have been summoned for formal police interview is a further chilling indicator of a state clampdown on the right to protest.
That the eight include an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor, Stephen Kapos, only adds an air of unreality, as the police appear to believe that this elderly Jewish activist may have committed a public order offence by walking across Trafalgar Square with flowers in his hand, as a statement from the protest organisers has pointed out.
This whole episode is a consequence of the Metropolitan Police capitulating to pressure from cheerleaders for Israel’s genocide of the Palestinians to curb the massive solidarity movement in support of the people of Gaza.
The entirely spurious reason given for imposing restrictions on the January 18 demonstration, essentially confining it to a static protest, was the alleged upset given to worshippers at synagogues by the proximity of pro-Palestinian protest.
In fact, no synagogue and no worshipper has suffered any harassment at any of the 24 national marches held to date. These huge assemblies have been almost entirely peaceful.
This was the latest pretext for limiting democratic rights dreamed up by the Board of Deputies of British Jews, a body mainly animated by a desire to prevent the British government from wavering in its support for Israel, no matter how revolting its crimes.
The board has accomplices throughout the political Establishment, both in backing Israel to the hilt and in seeking to crack down on peaceful protest.
Indeed, in an unsubtle indication of police priorities, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley attended a meeting of the board the very next day to report on his actions. Unsurprisingly, he was warmly received.
The board seeks to arrogate the right to determine the location and nature of protests against Israel, a situation no more acceptable than giving the Tate brothers a veto on demonstrations against misogyny.
On January 18 the only violence which attended the main protest was when the police grappled chief steward Chris Nineham to the ground as they arrested him. Both Nineham and Palestine Solidarity Campaign director Ben Jamal have been charged with public order offences, which they deny.
Already left MPs Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell have been interviewed under caution over their part in the delegation which sought to lay flowers outside the BBC offices, until it was halted by police. They have not been charged as things stand.
Now more activists are being caught up in the police action, including several officers of the Stop the War Coalition, Morning Star reporter Andrew Murray among them, actor Khalid Abdallah, CND general secretary Sophie Bolt and Kapos.
It is likely that the latest police move, which comes six weeks after the protest, is related to their determination to impose further restrictions on forthcoming marches for Palestine.
The Establishment seems to be moving to try to bring the mass movement to an end, a tribute to its impact on politics over the last 17 months.
With Israel now blocking all aid from entering Gaza, Benjamin Netanyahu walking away from the ceasefire his government signed, and ethnic cleansing and state terror sweeping the West Bank, there is no chance of the solidarity movement even pausing.
Indeed, the need is for it to step up its level of mobilisation, above all for the sake of the heroic Palestinian people, but also because the movement is now forced into a position of standing up for our collective freedoms.
The police should abandon this ill-advised investigation and withdraw the charges already laid, before they bring down a storm of indignation on their benighted heads.
