A VAN urging people to boycott Coca-Cola appeared in central London today, as part of an ongoing campaign by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC).

PSC has been following the company’s annual Christmas truck tour across Britain to persuade people to boycott Coca-Cola over its links to Israel.

The van drove through the capital on one of the busiest shopping days of the year, seeking to counter the soft drinks giant’s high-profile festive advertising.

The action forms part of PSC’s “Don’t Buy Apartheid” campaign and has been accompanied by protests staged by activists at Coca-Cola lorry stop locations.

PSC said the van was intended to expose the company’s role in supporting Israel’s land theft, military occupation and apartheid against Palestinians.

Coca-Cola’s exclusive franchisee in Israel, the Central Bottling Company, operates a regional distribution centre and cooling facilities in the Atarot settlement industrial zone, an illegal Israeli settlement in occupied East Jerusalem.

In July 2024, the International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion finding Israel’s decades-long military occupation of Palestinian territory unlawful, and said its “near-complete separation” of people in the occupied West Bank breached the international prohibition on racial segregation and apartheid.

Coca-Cola’s operations in Atarot provide economic support for Israel’s control of Palestinian land and contribute to escalating violence across the West Bank, campaigners say.

PSC director Ben Jamal said: “Behind the festive lights and expensive advertising lies the company’s very real involvement in Israel’s land theft and military occupation.

“By boycotting Coca-Cola, we can hit the corporation’s profits and ensure it faces real consequences for enabling Israel’s crimes.”

He called it “a simple but powerful act of solidarity with Palestinians.”