Skip to main content
Donate to the 95 years appeal
Palestine arrests: refuting the nonsense
The claims of the police and anti-Palestine lobby that the weekend’s march was somehow a threat to a synagogue are painfully transparent, and there is evidence that the police were itching for a confrontation, explains LINDA PENTZ GUNTER
People take part in a national march for Palestine on Whitehall in central London, January 18, 2025

FOR many of us who have taken part in the now 24 major marches for Palestine in London, there has been one consistent, calming figure at the head of them. One steady voice of assurance, advocating peace. If provoked by zionists or police, don’t retaliate. Remember this is a march of love. No matter the incitement, remain peaceful.

And it worked. There have been few, if any, incidents of unrest at any of the rallies in London or at the countless others across the country. A lot of that credit goes to our chief steward, Chris Nineham, one of the founders of the Stop the War Coalition.

It was a supreme irony, therefore, not to mention an outrage, to see footage of him being violently wrestled to the ground and arrested for trying to facilitate a consummately peaceful act, the laying of flowers to remember the Gaza dead. Justifying Nineham’s arrest, the police claimed protesters tried to force their way through a police line.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
HEAVY HANDED: The law does not have an age limit, the head of the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said after an 83-year-old reverend Sue Parfitt was arrested at a protest in support of Palestine Action organised by the Defend Our Juries group on July 5
Features / 23 July 2025
23 July 2025

Waves of protesters are refusing to comply with the latest crackdowns on dissent, but the penalties are higher in Starmer’s Labour Britain than in Trump’s autocratic United States, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER

The main buildings of Shifa Hospital lie in ruins after Israeli air and ground offensives, with the hospital administration estimating that 70% of the facility has been destroyed, in Gaza City, July 4, 2025
Features / 16 July 2025
16 July 2025

Funds are being raised to bring the bombed al-Shifa hospital back from the ashes, reports Linda Pentz Gunter

Democrat mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks during a rally at the Hotel & Gaming Trades Council headquarters in New York, Wednesday, July 2, 2025
Politics / 14 July 2025
14 July 2025

From Labour’s panic over the Corbyn-Sultana formation to Democratic Party grandees distancing themselves from Zohran Mamdani, centrist cliques on both sides of the Atlantic are quick to throw the same old insult, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER

President Donald Trump listens during a meeting with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Blue Room of the White House, July 7, 2025, in Washington
Features / 9 July 2025
9 July 2025

Trump’s cruel Bill will deprive millions of essential medical support while escalating deportations and rewarding the super-rich, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER

Similar stories
Angie Zelter
Features / 16 April 2025
16 April 2025
Activist Angie Zelter has been arrested more than a hundred times. She’s not stopping now, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER
People taking part in a national march for Palestine on Whit
Britain / 19 January 2025
19 January 2025
Police arrest 77 protesters during national demonstration for Palestine