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. We are losing our freedoms too quickly.

I'm torn tbh.
People need to be able to protest against the government. But what's going on currently is people causing massive disruption and fear to some communities by protesting against a foreign war 2500 miles away.

I genuinely question the intelligence of the protesters. What do they think they will achieve? Keir starmer isn't to blame for what is happening, and I've seen so many no sensical things about him being 'complicit' etc. it's just moronic. And that's before you even count in that a good proportion of the protesters are antisemetic or professional ne'erdowells who just want to watch the world burn.

i think they need to do something to restrict it, but that should be the lightest touch possible. I also think that the protests are counterproductive and turn people against the cause, especially after so dishonorably and stupidly doing it this weekend when they were asked not to.

I think the people who say the PA protests in central London 'must' be allowed to continue as they will help stop the war/save the gazans have such low intelligence they are unable to understand the above though.

It’s a war, if you kick of with your neighbour theres a chance you may find they fight back and you lose. It’s shit but thats war unfortunately. The Uk government has confirmed there is no genocide.

I think the marches would not be a problem if they had been policed more robustly and there were clear and immediate consequences for the harrasment of Jews. Yelling about Khyber is an incitement to violence and people should be in prison for it.

People are calling the protests peaceful but people are gathering to spew hate and illegal views.

Matthew Syed just wrote in the Times of his deeply unpleasant experience when he popped along to Trafalgar Square to ask them whether Hamas was a problem.

We've also got
People marching on the streets of London calling for the army of Mohammed to murder Jews https://x.com/lizarosen0000/status/1973829685315534998?s=61&t=U9XrcF693-JpMxeIueYG7g

People celebrating October 7th on the streets of Birmingham https://x.com/habibi_uk/status/1974566508178391462?s=61&t=U9XrcF693-JpMxeIueYG7g

People in Leeds calling for Israel to be wiped off the map https://x.com/habibi_uk/status/1789631217161093223?s=61&t=U9XrcF693-JpMxeIueYG7g

Protestors assaulting police officers
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/gaza-protest-whitehall-arrests-met-police-israel-b1250999.html

Not to mention the despicable planned protest in Birmingham on October 7th celebrating Palestinian resistance.

This is a tiny snapshot of the disgusting things that go on at these protests.

They were asked to show some decency in the wake of a terrorist attack on a synagogue where Jews were attacked and killed, and to pause their protest to free up police resources to protect Jewish sites. The said no, fuck you.

They are inflaming violent antisemitism and in blatant support of a terrorist government that literally decimated another country's population in their attack. We literally have ex-Hamas chiefs organising them, as well as organisations banned in the Middle East for their terrorist ties.

The far right protests were dealt with immediately, no issue there, but Jewish people are effectively banned from our town centre every Saturday afternoon now and have been for two years.

When did the UK government confirm there is no genocide. If they have they are a bit slow and out of step with the rest of the international community.

What's your stance on October 7 massacre?

I know it’s shameful and shocking. Good for Ireland to recognise Palestine waaaay before the Uk.

And these protestors will march chanting 'Globalise the intifada' and when Jews are murdered outside their synagogue they will say 'Nothing to do with us' while arranging an 'emergency protest' on the streets of Manchester that evening.

I think they should have been stopped a long time ago.

@Bones101
Well unsurprising to me re Ireland given it was "neutral" during the second world war....it is a very anti Semitic country.
(I say this as a European living there, not a Brit.)

No. This is nuts. People are protesting the genocide. We can’t stop protests it’s a human right.

Lammy said it, he said there was no evidence that Israel was acting with the intent required to call something a genoicde, thats the Uk’s position.

On another note when Syed went to the protest he said people didn’t seem to know anything about the current proposals to end the war. Very incurious about Gaza these protestors. It’s basically just an anti Israel movement. I’ve seen people on twitter complaining simultaneously that theres a genocide and that Gaza shouldn’t accept any peace plan, very contradictory. Either they believe there is a genocide and think its worth Palestinian lives so they can still go on protests/scream at Jews or they don’t really believe there is a genocide at all. Not sure which one it is.

His article was very depressing.

I’m not sure that we should be banning protest. I would be happy for them to be shoved into a corner somewhere out of the way. But I do want to see kuch more robust policing.

Ireland is not the only country in support of a free Palestine. Uk is behind in reacting. It’s not anti semitic to recognise Palestine as a state. Norway and Spain also did this same time as Ireland.

That’s disappointing and very isolating on the world stage. Most countries internally have called it a genocide. Can’t believe all the genocide deniers on MN.

It’s a slippery slope, isn’t it?

However, I personally was very disappointed in people who decided to take over railway stations etc on Thursday evening and then protest on Saturday. Every day at 6pm where I am, there are a group of people banging pots on the High St and waving flags. I don’t disagree that the toll on civilians in Palestine is horrible and unjust, but what effect they think this will have- noisily virtue signalling in a damp Scottish suburb, I do not know.

I do feel for my Jewish neighbours seeing and hearing it on a daily basis, knowing that antisemitism is on the rise alongside all of this.

Irish identity is wrapped up in an 'underdog' mentality IMO, so they see smaller Gaza as the underdog' and therefore support them without really questioning why. (Half Irish here) I think it people see a parallel with larger big bad Israel (England) oppressing poor little palestine (ireland) and that feels like a safe easy place to form an opinion. October the 7th and the hostages doesn't fit in with that narrative, so they just ignore it.

There's also not many jews in ireland, which didn't take in the kindertransport or even join in the war, preferring to stay neutral with Nazi Germany and Mussolini's Italy. So Ireland is not the moral highground it thinks it is.

Tried to edit my post but wouldn't let me - should say take in the kindertransport at the same level

No, I understand the arguments in both sides but the overarching stance for me is protect the right to peacefully protest.

Protesting should not be illegal but those glorifying Hamas or celebrating murders carried out by them and shouting anti semitic things should have the book thrown at them. I never had a problem with Lucy Connolly being punished-so why are these people getting away with similar?

I don't support what they are protesting about but I do very strongly support their right to protest.

Ireland has a bit of recent history with Palestine. In the 1970's the Palestine Liberation Organisation and the IRA were on good terms.

Apart from intimidating Jews, what's the point of the marches?

You don’t support ceasefire and a free Palestine? You don’t stop the end of mass murder and genocide?

They should only be allowed to go ahead if every participant can name exactly which river and which sea, and prove that they understand the meaning of the word “intifada”. Skim off the Socialist Worker goons and the crowds would probably slim down.