Glasgow FRFI supporters have continued to be active on protests in solidarity with Palestine, working alongside other groups and individuals mobilised through the local Gaza Genocide Emergency Committee (GGEC). As the genocide intensifies, so must our opposition – join us!
On Fridays 9 and 16 May, GGEC held pickets of the British Army and RAF recruitment offices in the city centre. In response, military staff closed their offices early, claiming the genocide is nothing to do with them and complaining about stickering. The RAF has conducted at least 518 surveillance flights around Gaza since December 2023, suggesting British collaboration with Israeli military operations (see here), operated a weapons air bridge to the Zionists through their base in Cyprus (see here) and bombed Yemen for targeting Israeli shipping in the Red Sea in solidarity with Palestine. The British military is up to their necks in Palestinian blood.
On 16 May, a bucket of what appeared to be water was thrown on picketers from the first-floor window of the RAF office. The police officers surrounding the protest witnessed the assault, reluctantly took statements from those soaked but refused to enter the office to arrest the culprits or even investigate. How different their response would have been if Zionists or British military personnel were the ones soaked! The picketers continued our noisy protest undeterred, with chants and singing, the pavement chalked, windows stickered, and a Palestinian flag draped over the recruitment sign. We demand immediate sanctions against Israel by the British (Labour) and Scottish (SNP) governments.
On 10 May, after the weekly GGEC picket of Barclays bank on Argyle Street, Glasgow FRFI held another rolling picket through the city centre stopping to protest outside shops and businesses which support the Zionist state economically and politically. These included: Marks & Spencer, McDonalds, Leonardo Hotel (owned by an Israeli Zionist), Zara and Starbucks. The Glasgow Friends of Israel group, whose supporters regularly harass Palestine protests, provoked and obstructed picketers as we passed their stall, assaulting one wheelchair user.
On 11 May, hundreds gathered to picket a Glasgow Friends of Israel conference at the Royal Concert Hall in the city centre. SPSC activist Mick Napier was arrested, yet again, on the spurious grounds of breaching bail conditions, with officers refusing to check their records before handcuffing and escorting him to a waiting police van. In response, the crowd surrounded the police vans, with two people lodging themselves beneath the van, demanding his immediate release. Dozens more police arrived to disperse the crowd and were met with cries of ‘Who do you protect, who do you serve?’ and ‘No Justice, no peace, no Zionist police!’.
During the 90-minute standoff, members of the public joined in and, despite assaulting GGEC supporters, police were unable to clear a path for the van to leave. An elderly anti-Zionist Jewish woman, whose father fought the fascists in 1930s Spain and whose relatives were killed in Nazi extermination camps, led chants of ‘Venceremos, we will win!’. An FRFI supporter led a chant of ‘We remember – Kenmure street! Do the police remember Kenmure Street?’. In 2021 in Kenmure Street, Glasgow’s southside, two asylum seekers were de-arrested due to a mass spontaneous public protest after a dawn raid.
Faced by a determined crowd, growing in number and refusing to back down, the police were forced to release Mick Napier, acknowledging to his solicitor that he was not breaking any bail conditions by being on the protest. The crowd chanted ‘Police Scotland – Behave Yourself!’ When Mick Napier was finally released from the van the crowd erupted in applause and a growing sense of people power. The protest against the Friends of Israel conference continued, with speeches given, including from an FRFI supporter, until the end of the day.
Join the next picket of the British Army & RAF office:
Friday 23 May, 10am – 2pm
78 – 82 Queen Street,
Glasgow, G1 3DN.
Follow @glasgowfrfi_2 and @ggecscot for publicity.
Defend the right to defend Palestine!
Isolate the zionist state – Sanctions now
Join the next rolling picket:
Saturday 7 June- 1pm
Barclays Argyle Street
Glasgow
