Reading this sounds like they are getting years in prison for just protesting. I was at several of the protests including the main one where it really kicked off at the embassy. The violence against the police was disgusting. WTF have the UK police got to do with what Israel are doing? People who get sent to prison for throwing bricks at police don't have my support. Sorry.

The police have lots to do with it. Did they police the pro-Israel demos like this, even though anti-war activists were attacked at these events? Of course not. The police pick sides. Failure to recognise this is naive to say the least. I fully support those who were arrested.

I don't see the police acting different for particular causes. When demonstrators kick off and attack the police, the police respond with force whether it be pro-Palestine, the Countryside Alliance or the EDL. There's nothing progressive about attacking the police.

Full support for all those arrested, i will do whatever i can (trying to think up some genuinely useful ideas with some friends). I was at a couple of the demo's and despite not doing anything other than chanting and taking the odd picture i got charged at by a police horse and hit twice with a baton - once was on the back of the head whilst running away from an advancing police line. I was subjected to numerous stop and searches, and kettled for several hours.

During this time i saw elderly people and young children pushed to the ground as the police arbritarilly decided to squeeze the crowd or push them one way or another.

During all this i didnt throw anything more than a harsh word at the police lines but the behaviour of the police coupled with the strength of feeling about what was happening (with the quiet support of the uk goverment) meant it took every ounce of self control not to attack them,

I certainly hold no ill feeling towards anyone who acted against the police in anyway that day. The police in riot gear were a tool of the UK state, one of many states that commits funds and allows acts like the horrific attacks on gaza to happen. They may not be the 'real enemy' but they were certainly the opposing force, and the first line of defence the real enemies of humanity deployed.

ACAB.

the people above the starbucks were clearly not being targeted. but that's beside the point. this pro police shit doesn't wash with me. over a hundred thousand people were on the streets to demonstrate their utter disgust with the israeli masacre upon the people of gaza. frankly its lucky that only a few windows were smashed here. now, those young men and women who dared to show their humanity and solidarity, are being given very hefty sentences and it is our duty to support them. or would you rather young people of today stick to turning a blind eye to the horrors committed this government and its allies, live a miserable life of a working week and pissed weekend, and look to x factor for hope and guidance.

fuck the police. they are filthy scum. they were there protecting the murderers, beating the protestors and ensuring that a whole new generation know that ALL COPS ARE BASTARDS

Ruby: "WTF have the UK police got to do with what Israel are doing?"

Gordon Brown offered Israel the help of the Royal Navy in blockading Gaza. The UK police protect Royal Navy bases from which the blockade would be mounted.

OR

EDO in Brighton make bombing equipment for Israel. The UK police protect the EDO factory.

That should be clear enough. Obviously examples could be multiplied.

But the real point is that the police attacked the demo, and so people were bound to defend themselves.

"I don't see the police acting different for particular causes. When demonstrators kick off and attack the police, the police respond with force whether it be pro-Palestine, the Countryside Alliance or the EDL. "

Hi Ruby, unfortunately there is no truth in this statement (I wish there was), the Countryside Alliance (who don't represent the view of people living in the countryside as their name would suggest), and fox hunters have impunity to hunt, whilst hunt sabs are arrested for aggravated trespass when they are theoretically attempting to enforce the law.

The EDL are definitely targeted by police but nothing like the vicious attacks on protesters at the G20 earlier this year or the Gaza demos in January 2009:-

 http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/English-Defence-League-EDL-Stoke-Protest-Arrests-And-Police-Hurt-At-Anti-Islamic-Extremism-March/Article/201001415534449?lpos=UK_News_First_UK_News_Article_Teaser_Region_0


If you would to see police favouritism in action at the Gaza demo in London I suggest you watch this two part video:-

 http://current.com/items/89821888_boiling-point-part-one.htm
 http://current.com/items/89822326_boiling-point-part-two.htm

I found this blog post archived. The original seems to have gone missing.
 http://gaza.haimsbresheeth/gaza-carnage-archive/london-demos/london-demo-28-december

It gives a good flavour of the day:

The London Metropolitan Police have managed the impossible – they made hundreds of people on a peaceful demonstration in the heart of London feel a bit like the people they were trying to represent – the Palestinians of Gaza. At the demonstration beside the gates of Palace Green, the leafy avenue of the embassies in Kensington, and the road leading to the Israeli embassy. The Israelis who may have been in the embassy – not many, one assumes, on Sunday evening – had nothing to worry about. The BBC website tells us that there were 2000 demonstrators there – a figure I very much doubt – then there were about two policemen for every demonstrators. The roads between Kensington Church Street and Kensington Gore – just over half-a-mile stretch, where all blocked and choked full of police forces, including the much loved dog unit, which indeed was drafted in to intimidate the protesters, once they really got into the rhythm of brutal policing. Beside me, a young man was trying to argue with the police using logics: “what are you afraid off? Of those people who have come to pray for the Gaza people? Are you not ashamed standing here, protecting the embassy of murderers?” It was to no avail, obviously. I have asked him to move along, telling him I had the feeling they are about to get nasty, and he will make an ideal target. He saw the point, seemingly, and retreated to the back. The demonstrators were made of people of all ages, from babies to very old and frail men and women, including two people in wheel chairs. At about 16:00, immediately after the official start of the protest, many of the protesters have kneeled down for the evening prayer, men and women in different groups, and prayed peacefully. It will be wrong to say that people were not angry – every one of us there was madly angry with the barbaric Israeli murder and destruction – but this did not translate itself into violence against the police, who kept the road to the embassy blocked by lines of sturdy policemen and women. There was something ugly in the air, though. As I was few inches away from the policemen, taking one of the photographs below, at about 16:20, I overheard one of the policemen advising a young man who found he could not get to the other side of the cordon, and just wanted to get there, being a tourist on shopping tour “just go back and scram, I tell you, do it now. There will some action in few minutes and you don’t want to be here”. So, it became clear to me that the violence will be manufactured pretty soon. It did indeed take less than five minutes, and the police cordon was swiftly reinforced by a large number, joining and starting to hit those close to them and push them with enormous force. Democracy in action, I suppose. I tried to take as many photographs as I could of this, until a well aimed hit on camera finished off the flash, so I continued to take photos as best I could, but many of the more brutal ones are, as a result, too dark. In the mad melee which followed, a SKY TV reporter in a beautiful red coat, in mid sentence facing her cameraman, was knocked down and about to be trampled upon by the advance of the forces of law and order, but for the efforts of the protesters which have surrounded her, hammered by the police for so doing, until she could be got up, very badly shocked and quite shaken. Things were happening so fast you could do nothing bur get pushed, and pandemonium was really frightening, with the police behaviour something to be seen to be believed. It well reminded me of the last time I was on demo at one of the checkpoints in Palestine, which seemed apposite. I have tried to pose as a press photographer, with my large professional camera, as I attempted to film the police getting the dogs into the crowd, and snatching individual protesters and hammering them into the road surface, four policemen to one demonstrator. Blood was flowing freely by that point, and as snatched a couple of shaky images, a huge policeman grabbed me with force I can only describe as brutal, and joined by another one rammed me back into the crowd but hitting me on the back for good measure. I could see some ten demonstrators at least led away, or rather dragged away with blood pouring from their wounds, and I moved rather quickly not to become the next prey. This is where I saw the CNN reporter, in mid sentence, on the background of all this violence, speaking of ‘extremists’, of Hamas and Hizbollah flags, as well as the flag of the ‘Palestinian State’. This was too much even for me, and I stopped him in his flow to ask since when did we have a Palestinian state, a comment he did not really appreciate, but at least it got him packing and reteating before the obviously superior forces of the Met. At this point, there was nothing to do but disperse or be hit and arrested. The road was filled with shocked and shaken people, and one was saying to his friend as they ran past me “this is almost as bad as the Israelis”. He had a point. Haim Bresheeth A link toa BBC report which is not totally useless, but misses the point:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7802078.stm The pictures were by me.

Notes re pics:

Pic 2: This policeman just noticed that a police car was used to advertise peace, by some of the protesters who passed by it. As I passed, and noticed him rearranging it into CAPE! I asked if the police is against peace on principle, a question which almost cost me an arrest…

Pic 3: At this point, despite the seriousness of the issues which brought the demonstrators out into the cold London evening, all was well organised and civilised

Pic 4: The large PSC Palestine flag we have seen on so many demonstrations, is unfurled and displayed

Pic 5: Demonstrators at about 16:10, when the whole thing may have looked as if it will pass without serious incidents

Pic 6: It was at this point in time, as I took numerous photos of the police line, that I heard one of them referring to ’some action in few minutes’, and realised it all going to turn nasty. But as you can see, this was reason for jollity

Pic 7: They never like it when you take their pictures, but what the hell, I am allowed to do what I want in this democracy… but one of them was the policeman who then pushed me brutally so that I could not photograph the ’special treatment’ on the road surface

Pic 8: Everywhere in Palestine, one can see the towering ’security constructions of Militarized Israel, policing and controlling from above, directing fire, missiles, bombs and helicopters, all carrying out death and destruction in dense civilian population centres

Pic 9:All around the place about two hundred men and women were praying, in small groups, as the police charged

Pic 10:about fifteen Haredi Jews were there, stalwarts of such demonstrations, and a reminder that Jews, as devout as themselves, do consider Zionism and its atrocities in the same way that you and me might – their Judaism is what they use against such barbarities, in the same way that devout Muslims may be against Al Aida

Pic 11: Just a couple of minutes before the explosion of violence, This rabbi takes a minute to explain his position on Zionism to a newcomer to the political scene

Pic 12: This is the demonstrator who was the first one to be taken and beaten up brutally, and then arrested

 http://66.102.9.132/search?q=cache:yDCS0eVYWG0J:gaza.haimbresheeth.com/gaza-carnage-archive/london-demos/london-demo-28-december+http://gaza.haim+bresheeth/gaza-carnage-archive/london-demos/london-demo-28-december&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&client=opera

@Ruby "I'm someone who gets tired of reading some Indymedia posters who promote attacking police without being criticised"

Decent people angry at Israel's killing of Palestinians are being locked up and all you can do is slag them off and brown-nose the police? I suggest you comment on the Daily Mail website instead, sounds more like your cup of tea. These people are heroes and should be supported unconditionally.

Indymedia is supposed to be an alternative to the mainstream, against hierarchy and authority. And what greater hierarchy and authority is there than the police? Some of the other comments seem to me to be from pro-Israel trolls too - hardly surprising seeing as Israel admits paying people to do this. Subtly undermining consensus and muddying the waters.

It's fairly certain that Indymedia gets trolled a lot, certainly by animal rights opponents. Even if you aren't a police troll, you are definitely doing the job of one. Though if Indymedia had proper login accounts it would be easier to keep track of trolls.

One of those who were sentenced for 12 months (for throwing one single empty bottle) is Mosab Al-Ani, please send messages of solidarity to him, the contact details are as follows:

Mosab Al- Ani
Prison number GX – 7243
H.M.P. Wormwood Scrubs
P.O. Box 757 DuCane Road
London, W12 OAE

Make sure when you do send messages of solidarity to send the letter by special delivery made payable to ‘governor’. Thanks for all your support

Is there a petition or something effective we can do to make ppl aware of these heavy sentences. these sentences are clearly politically motivated, All those sentences were given muslims, this is clear prejudice.
If anyone attacks the police they will obviously be sentenced in some way, but these sentences are disproportionate.