Anti-Zionist Jews in Downing St protest over Gaza blockade as Israel's PM talks with UK PM Gordon Brown
Several hundred protesters gathered in London opposite Downing St as Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was due to have talks with Gordon Brown. They chanted 'Netanyahu, War Criminal!' and other slogans, demanding that Israel dismantle settlements on Palestinian land, end the seige in Gaza and stop their ethnic cleansing in East Jerusalem. Protesters had applied for permission to protest and were allowed to do so on the distant side of the Whitehall, subject to the restrictions on freedom of SOCPA (The Serious Organised Crimes and Police Act) which, for example ban the use of megaphones and other amplification. As the demonstration started around a few demonstrators started to drift across the road to wave placards and flags on the pavement in front of the tall and well-protected gates of Downing St, where any protest is illegal. As I began to photograph them they were joined by more people with a megaphone, and for some minutes police simply watched as he and others waved flags, chanted slogans and addressed the slowly growing crowd of protesters who had by now gathered on the pavement by the gates, as well as passing tourists. After 20 minutes, police made their first move and came out to talk to the protesters, informing them that their protest was illegal under SOCPA and politely asking them to move across to the other side of the very wide road to continue their protest. After a few minutes police abandoned this polite approach and started pushing people to force them to move, at which point another hundred or demonstrators streamed across Whitehall from the legal demonstration on the other side to join them.
Size: 5040px × 3354px
Location: Downing St, Whitehall, London, England, UK
Photo credit: © Peter Marshall / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: anti-zionist, blockade, civil, cleansing, criminal, downing, east, ethnic, gaza, illegal, israel, israeli, jerusalem, jews, karta, london, megaphone, minister, netanyahu, neturei, palestine, palestinian, pm, police, prime, protest, rights, settlements, siege, socpa, st, talks, ultra-orthodox, war, whitehall
