Activist and campaigner Peter Tatchell was arrested for holding a placard displaying the phrase “Globalize the Intifada” at a pro-Palestinian march in London.
Tatchell, attended a Palestine A solidarity march in London on Saturday afternoon held a sign, “Globalize the Intifada: Nonviolent Resistance. End the Israeli Occupation of Gaza & the West Bank.”
He called his arrest an “attack on freedom of speech” and police said the word intifada was illegal. He was taken to Sutton Police Station in South London.
In a statement released by the Peter Tatchell Foundation, the 74-year-old, one of the country’s best-known gay rights campaigners, said his arrest was “part of a dangerous trend to increasingly limit and criminalize peaceful protests.”
“The Arab word intifada means revolt, rebellion or resistance against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. It does not mean violence and is not anti-Semitic. It is against the Israeli regime and its war crimes, not against the Jewish people.
“I advocated boycott, concession and withdrawal through ‘nonviolent resistance’ – the same tactics that helped topple the apartheid regime in South Africa. ‘Globalize the Intifada’ means creating a worldwide campaign like the anti-apartheid movement.
“The police are completely wrong to combine support for Palestinian resistance to oppression with hatred and attacks on Jews,” he said.
In December, the Metropolitan Police Protesters chanting “globalize the intifada” will now be arrested as the “context has changed” after the Bondi Beach terror attack in Sydney.
On Saturday afternoon, the force said: “Police officers arrested a 74-year-old man on suspicion of a public order offense at a Palestinian coalition protest. He was seen carrying a sign including the words ‘Globalize the Intifada’.”
Tatchell said the three men had been charged with the new ‘crime’ for supporting the intifada against Israel’s war crimes and genocide at a London rally last month.
“I have a long history of defending Jewish people against far-right and Islamist extremism. I joined the March Against. Antisemitismwith the Chief Rabbi and thousands of Jewish people, on 26 November 2023, after the 7 October massacre,” he said.
Last May, Tatchell was arrested by the police “Stop the Israeli genocide! Stop the Hamas executions! Odai al-Rubai, 22 years old, executed by Hamas! RIP!” for racially and religiously aggravated crime for holding a placard. He said that legal action is being taken against Meti on this arrest.
“My placard does not mention anyone’s race or religion. The police have accepted that I was wrongly arrested and I await a solution,” he said.
