Over a dozen people joined the morning’s action which ensured there were enough people to leaflet all three supermarkets, and have people on the stall. Prior to the action we had taken letters to all three shops, identifying goods they were selling from Israel, explaining the reasons for not stocking Israeli goods, and telling them that we would be leafleting shoppers.
The Coop and Somerfields were quite understanding about the action, asking only that we didn’t block the entrance to their shops. A Marks and Spencer manager insisted that we not leaflet on “their” land (almost all of the area in front of the shop), so the stall was set up just beyond with leafleting on all corners. The Police were called, so came to the stall and asked about the action, were quite friendly, and left to reassure M&S that what we were doing was quite legal.
From 11-1pm we handed out several hundred of the Boycott leaflets. We also had display boards and individual posters to hold that illustrated the reasons for calling for a boycott of Israel. A particularly poignant photo shows an elderly Palestinian woman, arms around her devastated olive tree. Many passers-by came to the stall for more information, and most people who were given leaflets responded positively, some waiting to hear more information, and quite a number telling us that they regularly boycott goods from Israel. Of course as always there were a few people who didn’t respond positively, and unfortunately some comments about veils and the colour of people’s skin BUT we all felt that it was a very successful morning, and enabled us to communicate with a large section of the public that we may not otherwise reach.