Within hours of the first Israeli air strikes against the civilian Gazan population, the Stop the War Coalition along with Palestinian Solidarity Campaign, British Muslim Initiative, Palestinian Forum in Britain and CND began to organise demonstrations, vigils and protests across the country.

By far the largest of these demonstrations took place outside the Israeli Embassy in London. On 10^th January up to 150,000 people, Muslims and non-Muslims alike, took to the streets and demonstrated against Israel’s brutal assault on the Palestinian people.

The police response to these demonstrations was shocking; scores of people were injured as a result of indiscriminate police baton charges, including a 79-year Labour Councillor who was knocked unconscious after being struck by a police baton when he attempted to deliver a letter to the Israeli Embassy.

However, many young protesters are only just beginning to pay the price for their opposition to that conflict. 69 people have now been charged, mainly with violent disorder, following these demonstrations and are now facing a jail term of up to five years. The vast majority of those charged are young Muslim men, the youngest being only 15 years old. Most of these arrests did not take place at the demonstrations themselves but in a series of ‘dawn raids’ throughout the summer; one 15-year old boy, for example, was arrested after 25 police officers broke into his house at 4.30am, causing intense fear and panic to his family and neighbours.

If this wasn’t bad enough, each of those arrested have been required to surrender their passports and are not allowed to apply for travel documents without the permission of the court. Those who are not British citizens have been threatened with deportation depending on the outcome of the criminal proceedings.

These tactics are clearly designed to intimidate Muslim people into not taking to the streets. The message is being sent out loud and clear that protesting and attending demonstrations runs the risk of a hefty prison sentence. It is essential that Muslims and non-Muslims stand together in defending the most fundamental of our civil liberties.

In order to help those that have been charged, it is essential that we gather as much footage from the demonstrations as possible. If you have any footage (photograph or video) of any of the protests outside the Israeli Embassy or of the demonstrations on the 3rd, 10th or 17th January, please contact Joanna on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 07813 797 853.