The M&S picket in Manchester has been an ongoing battle between the pro-Palestinian picketers, the police and zionists, who have aggressively tried to break up the picket and have been verbally and physically abusive to individuals taking part in it. Counter demonstrators have held Israeli, American and British flags and sung 'God Save the Queen' along with the Israeli national anthem. They are thought to have links with various right-wing groups. The police have repeatedly served the picketers with a Section 14 notice, “imposing certain conditions” on their right to protest, though this usually happens after a couple of hours of disruption by the zionists. On one occasion the shop was closed, ironically as a result of the actions of the counter-demonstrators rather than the picketers. Two picketers have been convicted for obstructing a public highway.
Marks and Spencers have financially and ideologically supported the state of Israel since its creation. On 9th December CEO Stuart Rose is due to address the Annual Dinner of the British-Israel Chamber of Commerce at the Millenium Hotel, Grosvenor Square, London at 7pm.
Activists from Boycott Israeli Goods (BIG) and Boycott Marks and Spencer were scheduled to meet with the "Corporate Responsibility Division" of M&S to discuss what links M&S has with Israel, and what settlement goods they trade in. M&S cancelled the meeting "due to Christmas" - almost certainly on the calender when they made the appointment.
Comments
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Boycott ALL Israeli goods
07.12.2004 11:07
Given Imaging Ltd of Yoqneam, Israel who produce the 'PillCam', a tiny camera that patients swallow so that doctors can see their digestive tract.
InSightec Image Guided Treatment Ltd. of Tirat Carmel, Israel who produced 'ExAblate 2000', a nonsurgical way to destroy tumors by focusing ultrasound waves on them.
We must also boycott all other leading medical products from Israel and simply explain to the patients that they must die as nothing good can ever come from a Jewish State
Did not think about that did you?
Defend the Right to Protest
07.12.2004 15:05
We need to
DEFEND THE RIGHT TO PROTEST
LIFT THE BAN and LIFT THE CHARGES!
Due to the bail conditions are numbers will be down so we need as many people as possible to come down to the PEACE GARDENS in St Peter's Square (behind the Town Hall) this SATURDAY from 12 noon.
We have to show that Manchester has a strong tradition of political demonstation from Peterloo to the Suffragettes and we don't want our rights taken away.
John
Defend the right to shop in peace
08.12.2004 12:22
Meet inside Marks & Spencer on Saturday to uphold our right to shop without fear of intimidation from picketers
Happy shopper
M&S, Zionists and the police unite to stop protest
08.12.2004 14:31
We have remained peaceful and calm. We have not responded to the provocation. Ironcally it was the Zionist aggression that once forced M&S to close their doors. We are merely exercising our right to put our view to the public on an important matter by leafletting, petitioning and having a stall.
It only goes to show what a threat we have become to the public face of M&S and to our success in bring the issue of Palestine to the people of Manchester.
We will continue to fight against the ban and the arrests in the courts and on the streets. Everyone who supports the right to protest should come along to the Peace Gardens at 12noon on Saturday.
John
Happy Shopper - YOU ARE RIGHT: LETS GO SHOPPING!!!!!!!!!!!!
08.12.2004 18:44
Happy Shopper, you are absolutely right!
Every body should meet and go in to Marks and Spencer's and go shopping - or what ever people like to do in shops like M&S.
If every body went shopping, then maybe we could spread some Christmas cheer to all the customers because I hear that also on Saturday somebody has written some alternative carols.
Maybe we could even do our own cover of Band Aid's Do They Know it's Christmas but with: "Do You Know Israel Has Nuclear Bombs?" or "Ethniclly Cleanse the Worrrrrld!" and Im sure some body could do a moving pop video of singers standing around whilst children are being shot by snipers and houses are being bull dozed and in the back ground you could have Tony blair and George Bush - along with happy clappers in the UK talking of Democracy and freedom.
Or do people think that mutilated children from Iraq would move people more, or starved children from sanctions? Im sure I could find some pictures of disfigured babies, caused from Depleted Uranium lying around my house some where or even under my Christmas Tree.
So yes people, every body go shopping to M&S and sing the happy shoppers some nice songs -after all, we dont want people to know what's really going on in the world - it could poison our democracy and make us choke on our turkey.
Bobs best friend
What ethnic cleansing
09.12.2004 09:21
Bet you never suggested boycotting Egyptian or Syrian goods....wonder why?
Israel has killed 3000 most of whom were terrorists. Civilians were also killed which is terrible, but then Hamas operate from civilian areas.
Regarding snipers - Shalhevet Pass was a 10 month old Israeli baby who was shot dead by a Palestinian sniper whilst in her pram. Should we put that in the Xmas Song too - or do Israeli babies not count.
Your protests were not peaceful - you used intimidatory tactics and hurled abuse at anyone who expressed their democratic right not to agree with you. This is not Iran - we have the right to disagree with you without facing abuse. This is not Cuba - we have the right to disagree with you without harrasment.
So why talk about democratic rights when you Revolutionary Communists want a system where anyone who disagrees with you will have no rights.
The public hardly noticed you, merely finding you to be irritating. the Jewish community stood up to you as you were pouring out lies and half truths and inciting racial hatred and M&S has reported that your pickets have had no effect on sales - well done.
Santa's Helper
Israel was founded on ethnic cleansing
15.12.2004 13:37
"We must expel Arabs and take their places." David Ben Gurion, future Prime Minister of Israel, 1937. In 1940 Joseph Weitz, an official of the Yishuv, responsible for Jewish colonization, noted "Between Ourselves it must be clear that there is no room for both peoples together in this country.... We shall not achieve our goal of being an independent people with the Arabs in this small Country. The only solution is a Palestine, at least Western Palestine (west of the Jordan river) without Arabs. And there is no other way than to transfer the Arabs from here to the neighbouring countries, to transfer all of them; not one village, not one tribe, should be left." (
From 1948-49 over 700,000 Palestinains were ethnically cleansed from their land. As even Menachim Began admits, following the Deir Yassin massacre "Of the almost 800,000 who lived on the present territory of the State of Israel, only some 165,000 are still there." (
It continued so that currently 3.9 million Palestinian refugees are registered with the UN and a further 4.5 million scattered around the borders of their homeland.
One leading memeber of Likud has recently proposed “massive ethnic cleansing” of non-Jews in Palestine-Israel as a “final solution” of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Uzi Cohen, a member of Ariel Sharon’s right-wing Likud party and a deputy in the Knesset, told Israeli public radio on Sunday there was widespread support in Israel for “the idea of ethnic cleansing”. “Many people support the idea but few are willing to speak about it publicly.” Cohen, who is also deputy mayor of the town of Raanana, said Palestinians should be given 20 years to “leave voluntarily”. “In case they don’t leave, plans would have to be drawn up to expel them by force.” (
John
ethnic cleansing?
16.12.2004 13:27
i am no Loon.
John - are you naive or a liar
17.12.2004 13:33
Israel bought much land off absentee Turkish landowners.
The rest is largely as 'I am no loon' states, save as to add that Jordan and Egypt in particular encouraged many Arabs to leave in order that they may, in the words of Haj Amin Al Husseini (Hitler's pal) "push them into the sea".
I really do not know if you are just naive or a total liar.
Israeli
Government's report on Israel
01.06.2005 11:43
Mark