Solidarity with Palestine, Israeli embassy rioting, London - pictures

Terence Bunch | 10.01.2009 22:08 | Palestine

A man with head injury.

Jewish supporter and Anti-Zionist.

Images of those who are suffering.

The march heads off.

Police deploy armoured officers.

The situation degenerates quickly.

The police operation to clear the streets.

Ordering everybody out of the area.

Around 75,000 people gather in London at Hyde Park Corner to express their disgust at the barbaric invasion of Gaza by the Israeli military as it attempts the eradication of the democratically elected Hamas.

They march out of Hyde Park and through London arriving at the Israeli embassy an hour later.

They are met with a police presence which has clearly planned for a violent confrontation. Police in riot armour and Nato helmets are then deployed from within the embassy after shoes are thrown and the situation quickly degenerates into violent rioting a short while later.

A number of people are injured, some seriously.

As the protest continues, police deploy many hundreds of officers including officers on horseback.

Israeli Embassy, London, UK. 10/01/2009.

Terence Bunch
e-mail: terry.bunch@terencebunch.co.uk
Homepage: http://www.terencebunch.co.uk/PUBLIC/rioting-israeli-embassy-palestine-solidarity-protest-london-uk-10-01-2009.php

Comments

Hide the following 10 comments

Did the Police deserve railings thrown at them?

11.01.2009 01:17

Did the Police deserve railings thrown at them? That just sick.

loppy

Yes

11.01.2009 01:28

The police always deserve to have railings thrown at them

ACAB

Yes and no

11.01.2009 03:04

On the whole the police imo were not excessively violent in comaparison to last week. Although their violent actions at the front of the embassy (including pepper spray and battons) did trigger a crowd surge that resulted in the barriers at the rear (which the police refused to open) colapsing under the pressure. Many people got hurt as a result incuding elderly and children. This triggered the violence that followed.

Most of the wounded and vulnerable were able to get out before the crowd drove the police back, upon which calm enursed which i think is testament to the view of the majority of protestors.

"Leave us alone and we will leave you alone"

I noticed a few anarchist groups there. Whilst some were great and i complement their work. Others showed no regard for the others in the protest especially the vulnerable. Solidarity my ass, stay at home next time.

Moderate

Moderate - solidarity?!

11.01.2009 10:32

Would that be the same 'solidarity' you show by pointing the finger at anyone acting differently from you? (Those nasty anarcho types).
You've swallowed the BBC line beautifully, haven't you. As long as everything is kept PEACEFUL we can continue to sell arms to Israel and pretend we have a wonderful democracy where protest and dissent are tolerated (as long as they are ineffective and allow the status quo to go unchallenged). Keep swallowing..

anon

Did you read my post anon?

11.01.2009 12:26

My Issue was not with the violence or the Anarchists in general. It was good to see them there this time. My issue was with the ones who acted without concern for anyone else in the crowd.

I saw some affinity groups helping the elderly, negotiating with other protest groups and partaking in sitdown blocks when there was a gereral consensus for passive resistance. But i saw others throwing shit at police lines whilst people were evacuating elderly and already wounded, assulting othe mebers of the protest and encourageing people to stop at the back of the embassy (trying to creat a flash point) backing up thousands and resulting many elderly and children in the crush that happened.

Not things to be proud of.

Moderate

And why do you classify them as 'anarchists'?

11.01.2009 13:28

Did you know them? Did they have the word 'anarchist' written on their forehead? Some of them might have been 'anarchists' and others not. And what do you mean by 'it was good to see them there this time?' They've always been anarchists at the Gaza protests. So, how do you exactly distinguish an anarchist in a crowd? I just wonder ...

To Moderate

Moderate=spineless

11.01.2009 16:50

Hi moderate,

You are wrong, anyone looking at the videos can see that the police were far more violent than last week. Riot cops charged protestors, protestors sitting down were batoned, and people were trampled by horses.

Your analysis is attempting to create division with this 'good protestor, bad protestor' comparison which is why I think you are a troll. However anyone who was there knew what happened so it won't work. There are photos and videos of the police attacking innocent people on Indymedia. The police attacked first, and if some people are prepared to fight back and protect the rest of the crowd then they deserve commending on their bravery.

Anonymous

the only

11.01.2009 16:53

members of the anarchist block i saw inside the cordon were acting with respect towards fellow demonstrators. Much of the block was left outside mostly through chance some through conscious decision.

There were some scuffles between protesters but they were quickly broken up by other demonstrators. They were mostly caused by misunderstandings eg. the assumption that a slogan on a sign written in Hebrew was pro-Zionist, rather than the truth that it was pro freedom for Palestinians.
I didn't see anarchists getting in the way of the injured either, hard to get in the way of the rest of the people when your on the front lines between the cops and the rest of the demonstrators!
The stuff at the back of the embassy started before the anarchist block arrived, and altough there may have been anarchists involved it wasn't a case of 'anarchists ruin peaceful protest', many non-anarchist groups were shouting at the police, and people waving a Palestinian flag and a communist flag had climbed on top of the gates.

On the whole i'd say the role the anarchists took was sit down protest in front of police lines, pushing back police lines away from the demonstration and erecting a barricade around a group of police who had repeatedly baton charged the crowd.

traveling anarchist

Fighting police

12.01.2009 09:10

The violent clashes were generally a storm in a tea cup, long stand-offs with the occasional charge, with flimsy placard sticks being thrown harmlessly at police who batonned a few people (me included) but didn't lash out nearly as much as they could have (probably out of fear).

The few people I saw really going toe to toe against the riot cops, with heavy sticks against batons, weren't "anarchists" but some dedicated, fearless and angry young muslims. And it was fucking good to see. If we'd had a tenth of that courage and energy on our anarchist/anticapitalist (etc) protests of the past several years, it would have been worth a lot more than the plethora of leaflets speeches, meetings, graffiti and other empty words exhorting people to revolution.

Jimbo

Helping people escape and other sensible ideas

13.01.2009 20:04

I also observed a mix of people who were clearly more up for the fight than up for targeted action. But there was no clear lines as to who fell in which camps. People do need to be really careful in these protests and get the pushchairs out, because they are a liability. As, by the way, are push-bikes. Its not counter revolutionary to care for those around you. In fact, its pretty revolutionary to fight for something whilst giving a shit about how you affect others.

What I saw were people working together though the skin showing behind scarves was different, focusing for a very long time on the embassey and issue and making it really clear that the police were choosing to involve themselves in the situation (they could, in a world of chocolate and roses, have chosen to leave the scene) and in doing so, they compromised themselves (if thats possible) through being seen to defend a nation state acting to destroy the humanity of both its neighbours and its citizens.

Its not impossible for someone to be an idiot on a protest. I do wish people would stop trying to imply that anyone who says this is soft, divisive or whatever. We shouldn't be afraid to critique our actions in the hopes that next time, we are more issue-focused, more targeted, and more careful to keep everyone in our movement alive, healthy and free to continue pursuing justice as they see fit.

Observer