Do you think the Palestinian protests should be restricted?

[Yriovd]

With talk of the potential police powers, what do you think?

YABU - no restrictions, allow them to go ahead every week as they currently do.

YANBU - restrict them so they’re allowed less frequently, or ban them altogether.

No. If they are, it's a massive restriction on the right to peaceful protest in this country and sets the scene for clampdowns on any kind of protest that the government decides it doesn't like.

No.

I broadly agree with the restrictions. It’s not fair to have protestors about one single issue effectively taking over a single area.

Yes unless they are prepared to pay for the policing.

Everyone should be able to protest for free 3 times. After that they need to pay.

I don't think any kind of protests should be restricted.

Anyway, trying to take away the right to protest would make people do it all the more.

No people have the right to peaceful protest which these demonstrations largely are.

Not at all

No I think we should all join them.

And they still have the right to protest. They may just be asked to move it to a different location.

Yes, because they're not peaceful protests ( in the most part, there seems to be a lot of support for terrorism at them) and they're taking up a lot of police time with a lot of arrests. They seem to be more anti- Israel ( which seems to extend to just plain anti- semitism) than pro Palestinian anyway. Why were they not shouting for Hamas to take the peace deal if they actually care about Palestinian civilians? ( Because Hamas don't care about civilians, the more of them that die the better for their propaganda campaign). I think a lot of people on the marches just don't like Jews.

I think the Israeli government are disgusting war criminals who should be on trial at The Hague. I also think Jewish people in the UK should feel safe going about their business where the protests are happening. Currently, the weekly protests feature anti-Semitic, pro-Hamas chants - "globalise the Intifada," anyone? If protesters can't make their point against genocide without demonising Jews or supporting terrorists then they shouldn't be allowed to go ahead.

Very torn about this. I have huge concerns about protests being restricted, but these protests are going too far and have tipped into anti semitism. Have voted that they shouldn’t be restricted though.

No of course they shouldn't. It's a slippery slope, banning people from demonstrating, and getting rid of freedom of speech/ assembly.

The police don't have to attend in such large numbers, or arrest so many of the demonstrators, if they're short of officers!

In my experience, contrary to the poster above they are almost entirely peaceful events. (Especially if you compare them to recent far-right and anti-asylum-seeker demos - I note that you are not calling for these to be banned).

People aren't there because they "support terrorism"; for the most part they turn up because they are against genocide, and utterly horrified at the way that the Israeli state is treating Palestinians, while governments like ours fail to condemn the atrocities and instead offer military support to the IDF. A lot of them ARE Jewish, so it's not a case of them "not liking Jews". More a case of them "not agreeing with certain other Jews" when it comes to the actions of the Israeli Government.

You know there are plenty of Jewish people in Israel who are also demonstrating right now, because they don't agree with the actions of their Govt either?!

Most of the Palestine marches are peaceful and are protesting against the war. It's only a faction that are protesting Palestine action. But it is that faction that makes the news, not the majority of peaceful protesters.
My son has been on several of the big marches in London. He has been marching with thousands protesting against the war. Nothing to do with the Palestine action protesters. But it's only the vocal agitators that make the news. I've complained to BBC about their coverage.

These vocal agitators as you call them
are unfortunately drawing far too much attention to themselves. Such a shame as we should all be out in the streets protesting about the genocide happening in front of our eyes.

But it's a war Hamas started and it's them who could end it tomorrow. I just don't understand the anti-Israel slant of these matches. At this point, if they aren't chanting for Hamas to put down their arms, they aren't pro- Palestinian civilians. They're only anti - Israel. Jewish people in this country are not responsible for the actions of the Israeli government.

Hamas didn’t start this conflict. It started long before Hamas even existed. Both sides need to put down their arms, but it does not change the fact that Israel is the occupying nation currently committing genocide. Ofc jewish people are not responsible and many of them march themselves .There are marches taking place in Israel too.

YABU. Israel is committing a genocide and we should all be out protesting against this. It's not anti-Semitic. It's anti-Israeli government actions. HTH.

No, simply because it’s a slippery slope to only certain views being allowed to be expressed.

No, I think the right to protest is a fundamental aspect of our democracy and we restrict it at our peril.

Any expression of antisemitism or incitement to hatred etc should be dealt with and shut down as quickly as possible. But the protests should be allowed to go ahead.

protest that does not otherwise break laws and disrupt the flow of society should not be restricted.

no matter how much we might support or disagree with an idea, people should have the right to express it.

There are practical issues of public safety though. if I and 100 friends want to go to the park on Saturday, that isn’t a problem. If I want to organize an event in the same space for 5000, we are going to need to be organized or people are going to get hurt and the park will be damaged. Normal rules for permits, setup, etc should apply.

Peaceful protest should not be banned.

But antisemitism, racism, or Islamophobia, should receive the full force of the law.

It's crazy how many Brits support Israel. We in Ireland are all for Palestine and against the genocide of millions.

Absolutely not! No, no and no. Regardless of how you fell no one’s right to protest should be restricted for as long as there are peaceful and follow the laws of the UK - then crack on. No hade speech, no inciting violence but if protesters are simply demonstrating they disagree with how their government is handling a situation then no restrictions should be done.