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.

People should be allowed to preacefully protest but not in such a way that it prevents others going about their everyday business. For example causing traffic jams for public transport such that people cannot get to work, or preventing emergency vehicles like ambulances getting through. Your right to protest does not trump my right to go about my everyday business.

So what you are trying to say is protests should be allowed but only if you agree with what they are wanting to protest about seems very draconian

I am sick of the protests and I think they are turning people against the cause at this point. Nobodies mind is going to be changed at this stage so I don't see the point in continued protests.

Yes they should be banned all together and as a minimum the fools who attend should be fined the costs of policing.

Whilst I'm conflicted on this as I'm adamant we MUST protect the right to peaceful protest, therein also lies the rub - the right to PEACEFUL protest.

Since it could be argued that, holding a pro-Palestine march in this country two days after a terror attack on the Jewish community in Manchester, is somewhat antagonistic, is highly likely to inflame tensions and quickly turn a peaceful protest into a hostile environment, then this kind of protest, in my opinion, should be stopped.

This is of course not remotely comparable to the police officer who told the 'obviously Jewish guy' (who was peacefully going about his business!) to leave the area as his presence could cause a problem. And if he chose not to HE would be arrested. Yes REALLY!

Surely these people would make more of an impact protesting IN Israel in that case?

No, we are saying PEACEFUL protests should always be permitted to go ahead. Protests promoting hostility, not so much

Protest should never be restricted.

Yes I would restrict them.

Some haven't been peaceful but rather blatantly antisemitic with pro terrorist rhetoric, spreading division and hatred.

I also dont see why police resources should be used on this scale at the expense of other issues.

This ☝️ something very unpleasent is happening in this country. I struggle to come to terms with with this being under a Labour government.

restricting the right from the outset to non violent protest is so extremely dangerous and harms all of us who in the future may wish to protest to raise awareness about a differing issue… it’s so wrong! Violent protestors are of course a different matter

Ahh, so it’s 65,000 Hamas members that the Israeli state has slaughtered. Most of them children. Okay, got it

No
Once the Government start taking away our rights it’s a slippery slope

A protest by its very nature is protesting against something happening

There will always be those that disagree
or there wouldnt be the need to protest

Absolutely not if the protests are peaceful. Once we lose freedom of speech it is a downhill spiral. Protests about anything would be stopped and the public are silenced by politicians and the government.

Totally agree with this. People have the right to peacefully protest but people should not be made to feel unsafe or be threatened because of their race or religion.

They're protesting in support of a banned organisation. In my view they should all be jailed.

Well, quite. But there is a marked difference in people taking to the streets to make their voices heard, and largely protesting peacefully, and those taking to the streets to spew hate.

I'm still intrigued at how the Unite the Kingdom rally was widely condemned for being a march full of 'racist, violent thugs' but was, by all accounts, a peaceful gathering with just 25 arrests, yet the pro-Palestine marches was openly antisemitic in tone and saw some 300-odd arrests. But the latter are not the bad guys. Apparently. The double standards are an absolute disgrace.

I don't agree with the proscrbing of Palestinian Action, most of the people arrested at demonstrations are actually protesting about the terrible acts inflicted on the ordinary Palestinian people. Yes Hamas have done terrible war crimes, but the treatment of the ordinary Palestinians is nothing short of horrific, the starving of children, bombing of hospitals. There are many wrongs & rights on both sides & the only answer is the two state solution with NATO acting as peace keepers until all military action has stopped, all hostages have been released & there has been peace for many years. We shouldn't be supplying Israel with parts for F35 fighter jets either.

Millions??

I don’t think you can speak for an entire country. Just like Israelis can’t.

Maybe Irish protests are different to the ones we have here in Scotland and England. They have become deeply unpleasant and the repercussions more and more unsettling. And not because they’re forcing the government to act differently (which I think is the goal?), but because they are stirring up all sorts of bigotry and attracting some really awful people.

No. I don't think any peaceful protest should be restricted. When the authorities start deciding what we can protest about, it defeats the object of protesting and is a slippery slope. There are already sufficient laws in place to restrict the activities of protesters and the language they can use.

The government of this country started taking away our rights long ago and we are firmly on the slippery slope to a police state.

Hell of a lot of conflating criticism of the Israeli government's actions as anti Semitism going on in this post.

The Israeli government should stop flattening Gaza and firing rockets around the middle east with reckless abandon, then the marches wouldn't be needed.

Maybe people should protest about that... Oh wait

NO.

We should never restrict or bann peaceful protest. It's a pillar of democracy.

One of the problems with the protests is the amount of disruption they’re causing every single weekend. Bringing city centres to a standstill. The policing costs are horrendous and I don’t see how the police overtime bill can be sustained.