Over 70 people include families and some of the defendants attended the meeting with another 30 people unable to get in due to limitations of space.

The overriding message coming from all the speakers at Tuesday’s emergency meeting in Parliament was that the arrests and disproportionate sentencing of the Gaza demonstrators was politically motivated.

Months after last years Gaza demonstrators over 100 protesters, mostly Muslim’s aged between 16- 19 years were arrested in a number of dawn raids across London.  Over 70 of those have now been charged, the majority with violent disorder.  Joanna Gilmore, a research from Manchester University told the meeting that these are the highest number of mass arrests in relation to a political demonstration since the Poll Tax riots of 1990.

Many of the young people had been under surveillance by the police in the months following the protests, and were arrested in dawn raids on their homes up to a year later. Some told Joanna that their family members were handcuffed and put in a separate room during the arrests.

Young people who took part in the mass demonstrations against Israel's attack on Gaza in January 2009 are being handed down jail sentences for minor offences. A protest has been called this Friday 26 February at Isleworth Crown Court and there will be a public meeting, open to all, in Parliament next Tuesday 2 March (details below).

Friday's protest and Tuesday's public meeting will be in support of those now being treated so harshly by the courts, and to defend our democratic right of protest.

Israel's barbarism -- which devastated Gaza and left 1400 dead -- brought tens of thousands on to London's streets, including the demonstration of over 100,000 on 10 January 2009.

Numerous complaints were made about police aggressive behaviour on the Gaza demonstrations. Thousands of protestors were 'kettled' -- illegally held for hours and only released after the police had obtained their names and addresses.

In the months that followed the demonstrations, over 90 protestors were arrested -- most of them Muslims, many of them teenagers, often in intimidating dawn raids. More than seventy of those arrested were charged with disorder offences.

Israel's deputy Ambassador canceled her planned visit, without explanation, hours before she was due to speak to a group of students at the University of Manchester on Thursday.

Caught between a growing protest movement expected to reach 300, and exposure of Israeli murder in Dubai carried out with stolen British passports, she backed down!

This attempt by Israeli supporters to undermine the support for Palestine at the University with its growing Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Campaign was been beaten back.

Israel tramples on democracy in Gaza and they thought they could do the same at the University of Manchester Student Union!

The Executive at UoM SU now have plans to ensure that in future an Israeli Ambassador would not be allowed to be invited to speak on Union premises. See here

• Photo slide show here

• Video of protest.

• See also this article in the The Independent which may possibly shed some light on the Israeli diplomatic offensive: "Israeli Agents Go on offensive."

We republish below the resolutions that establish current Student Union policy. Note in particular points 20 and 21.