Stop this slaughter

[Thinking Man's Idiot]

Stop this slaughter

(Sunday 04 January 2009)
by DANIEL COYSH in central London


TOOLED-UP riot police savagely attacked Palestine solidarity protesters on Saturday as they made their way to a demonstration at the Israeli embassy in London.



Wearing full body armour and armed with truncheons and gas canisters, police charged men, women and children at least three times after penning protesters in the Hyde Park underpass.

Respect MP George Galloway and his daughter were among those caught up in the police assault.


"It was very frightening. The police trapped us in the tunnel and attacked us repeatedly," he said.


Protester Stephen Hodgkins added that police had charged several times.


"People were crying - they were very, very upset. It was just shocking," he said. "Unfortunately, what it has now done is provoke an otherwise peaceful demonstration."


One woman, who did not wish to be named, added: "It was like a throwback to the 1980s - people were just getting battered by the police. It was incredibly frightening."


The protesters had been making their way from Trafalgar Square, scene of the largest-ever Palestine solidarity demonstration in British history.


Some 75,000 people hugely exceeded organisers' expectations, still pouring into the square hours after the front of the march left Embankment at 2pm.


Chanting "free, free Palestine," furious protesters demanded an end to the Israeli massacre in Gaza as Israel launched a bloody ground war.


Thousands of shoes were thrown at the gates of Downing Street during the march, which was led by singer Annie Lennox, with demonstrators chanting: "Shame on you, have my shoe," referring to the recent jailing of an Iraqi journalist for throwing a shoe at US President George Bush.


Ms Lennox said that she hoped that the scale of the protests would force a diplomatic solution.


"The idea of an air assault combined with a ground war in such a tightly packed area as Gaza is unimaginable," she said.


At the Trafalgar Square rally, left Labour MP John McDonnell accused the British government of "standing by" and demanded the recall of Parliament to discuss the slaughter in Gaza.


Palestine Solidarity Campaign general secretary Betty Hunter sent a message to the government: "Shame on you."


She said: "Our politicians and media might choose to believe the Israeli government's lies, but the people of Britain refute them. We will continue to protest until Palestine is free."


Civil Service union PCS deputy general secretary Hugh Lanning insisted: "Our government's position must change. It does not represent our members or the British public.


"There is only one group that we support and that is the Palestinian people."


Mr Galloway condemned Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak for "locking" his country's border with Palestine and preventing civilians from fleeing the slaughter.


Referring to Gaza as "the new Warsaw ghetto," he called on the people and armed forces of Egypt to "rise up and sweep away this tyrant."


The Stop the War Coalition, one of the event's organisers, later hailed the massive solidarity shown across Britain with the Palestinian people, but stressed that it intends to make the strongest complaint to the Metropolitan Police about its officers' brutality.


"I have never seen such irresponsible behaviour by the police on a demonstration," said national officer Andrew Burgin.


However, a Metropolitan Police spokesman claimed that officers had "entered the crowd to make arrests in a structured way, where we had evidence, with the key aim of maintaining crowd and officer safety."


Stop the War protesters held an emergency demonstration outside the Israeli embassy again on Sunday in response to Israel's ground invasion. Another national demonstration, including a march to the embassy, is planned for Saturday.

Stop the War protesters held an emergency demonstration outside the Israeli embassy again on Sunday in response to Israel's ground invasion. Another national demonstration, There will also be daily protests between 5:30pm and 7:30pm outside the embassy starting on Tuesday.

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[Thinking Man's Idiot]

New Today ---------- 5 January 2009

Perspective
-----------------------------------------------------
Hands off Gaza!
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/ja...pers-j05.shtml

News & Analysis
-----------------------------------------------------
Ground assault sparks worldwide protests
Civilian casualties mount as Israeli army slices through Gaza
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/ja...gaza-j05.shtml

Video: London demonstrators protest Israeli assault on Gaza
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/ja...lond-j05.shtml

Thousands march through New York City as Israel invades Gaza
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/ja...nyga-j05.shtml

Australian demonstrations show solidarity with Palestinian people
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/ja...aust-j05.shtml

Sri Lanka: Fall of Kilinochchi marks turning point in civil war
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/ja...sril-j05.shtml

Most job losses in US last year since 1945, with more to come
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/ja...jobs-j05.shtml

India: Stalinists proclaim right-wing AIADMK a pillar of their “Third Front”
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/ja...indi-j05.shtml

Arts Review
-----------------------------------------------------
Harold Pinter: Independent and critical to the last
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/ja...pint-j05.shtml

Socialist Equality Party
-----------------------------------------------------
Mary Elise Henehan (1925-2008)
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/ja...hene-j05.shtml

History
-----------------------------------------------------
The tragedy of the 1925-1927 Chinese Revolution
Part 1
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/ja...lec1-j05.shtml

[Thinking Man's Idiot]

Socialist Worker News, 1 January

Highlights of the new issue
STOP ISRAEL’S TERROR IN GAZA
US and Britain have blood on their hands | End the killing–lift the blockade

Gaza: a new flashpoint in the ‘war on terror’
Israel’s latest assault on the Palestinian people is driven by its need to prove itself to its most powerful ally and by the growing instability caused by the wars on Iraq and Afghanistan, writes Joseph Choonara


Egyptians rage at hated regime
From the moment that Israel began its onslaught on Gaza, mass demonstrations broke out in Egypt


Eyewitness in Gaza: ‘Can you hear the noise? The Israelis are bombing again’
Amjad Shawa, the Palestinian NGO network coordinator for Gaza, told Socialist Worker on Tuesday of this week, “We have faced three days of intensive air strikes


Palestine’s long torment
The Gaza Strip is effectively the world’s largest prison camp


Opposition to war remains a powerful force in the world
This weekend demonstrations will take place around the world in opposition to Israel’s brutal aggression on Gaza


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