On 22 May, Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! (FRFI) supporters in Nottingham joined mass protests in solidarity with Palestine, including a rolling picket called by the newly-formed People for Palestine (Nottingham). As the first target, hundreds of people protested outside the British Army recruitment offices, to highlight the close military ties between the British and Israeli states and the importance of the arms trade between Israel and Britain. Here, an RCG supporter spoke about the power of international solidarity with Palestine and the links between British imperialism and Zionism.
From there, protestors went to picket Marks and Spencer, expressing their opposition to the company’s historic and ongoing support for Israel. The police then blocked off a road, preventing demonstrators from reaching the next stop on the rolling picket, forcing them back and antagonising the crowd. After returning briefly to the Market Square for more speeches, some of those present initiated a spontaneous march to the BBC to protest the pro-Israel bias of Britain’s leading state media. This included several minutes of complete silence in remembrance of those killed by Israel, demonstrating the self-discipline of the demonstrators.
After everybody had returned to the Market Square and were getting ready to disperse at the end of a long day of protest, the police massed and forced their way into the crowd, shoving and provoking demonstrators and forcing an older woman with a crutch to the ground. This video shows the character of the People for Palestine protest before and after the police intervened.
The first person to be arrested was one of those who had been most active in calming the crowd and persuading them not to respond to the police’s provocations. The police went on to arrest at least three more people, one of them a minor. People for Palestine has issued the following statement about these attacks by the police.
In an inspiring act of solidarity, hundreds of people surrounded the police van in which protestors had been detained. A call of “Be like Glasgow!” was taken up, referencing the mass mobilisation to stop an immigration raid on 13 May. Eventually the police gave up on moving their van, took the detainees out and forced their way through the crowd to another vehicle. Demonstrators then mobilised to both of Nottingham’s city centre police stations to demand their comrades’ release. They kept up their solidarity well into the night, until it was announced that the last person would not be released until the morning. Supporters returned at 9am and stayed until the last person was released, to cheers and chants of “Free, free, Palestine!”. The first person arrested was released without any charges or bail, at least two more are on bail pending possible charges. These are clearly political arrests, aimed at scaring people away from solidarity with Palestine. People for Palestine and FRFI have committed to support them in fighting any charges.
PSC: Sectarian Manoeuvring
The protests on 22 May followed big protests the previous Saturday, Sunday and Monday. A group of young people who had been part of these protests put out a call for another protest on Saturday 22 May, after which a separate call was made by Nottingham Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) and Nottingham Council of Mosques, for a protest assembling at the same time but in a different place. At a meeting on 19 May, attended by around 30 people including those who had put out the original call for 22 May and FRFI supporters, it was agreed to set up a new campaign called People for Palestine (Nottingham).
Despite the best efforts of People for Palestine to coordinate with the PSC, and assurances from the University of Nottingham Palestine Society that People for Palestine could have three speakers on the PSC platform, on the day PSC organisers showed utter contempt and hostility toward People for Palestine. The PSC has a long history of such sectarianism, often refusing to cooperate with anybody they think might criticise the Labour Party’s support for Zionism. The PSC refused to allow People for Palestine to speak. When the PSC rally had finished, a 20-year-old South Asian woman from People for Palestine stood up on the speakers’ plinth and tried to announce the start of the rolling picket. She was immediately grabbed and shoved by several PSC stewards, most of whom were older white men. A leading member of Nottingham PSC and Labour Party supporter, Ivan Wells, assaulted the People for Palestine speaker from behind, repeatedly pushing her in the back in an attempt to topple her off the plinth, and another PSC steward tried to yank a banner out from under her feet, nearly tripping her onto the concrete. The crowd took up a chant of ‘Let her speak’, and she was finally able to announce the start of the rolling picket, which hundreds of people enthusiastically joined, a large majority of those present.
A campaign of lies has since been launched to try and justify the actions of the police, cover up the sectarianism of the PSC, and discredit People for Palestine. This has included baseless accusations of ‘violence’ by individuals on the Nottingham PSC Facebook page, which have been endorsed by a page admin despite the risk this creates for people facing potential charges. On 23 May the University of Nottingham Palestine Society issued a statement praising the police and condemning protestors who, they claim, “caused havoc in the city, intimidated police officers, and got other protestors hurt”. In this the PSC and Palestine Society are acting as accomplices to the police.
People for Palestine (Nottingham) will have its next meeting on Wednesday 26 May at 5pm, to make plans to defend those who were arrested on Saturday and organise more protests in Nottingham. Email [email protected] or message https://www.instagram.com/peopleforpalestine_notts/ for details and to get involved.
Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! is holding weekly meetings, currently over Zoom, to build an anti-imperialist movement in Nottingham. This Thursday we will be discussing the RCG’s experience of building defence campaigns against police attacks, to help people use this knowledge in today’s struggles. Contact [email protected] or @NottsRCG on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram to get involved.
