People Before Profit Cllr Shaun Harkin said,
“I attended the Derry Trades Union Council organised action in solidarity with the Palestinian General Strike on Tuesday in the city centre.
The emergency event was organised in response to the slaughter being carried out in Gaza by the US funded Israeli Defense Forces and was attended by trade unionists, Derry and Strabane Councillors, students, Jewish Voice for a Just Peace, social justice campaigners and others respecting social-distancing and wearing masks.
The Derry and Strabane Council backed a People Before Profit call for the right of people to join Palestine solidarity actions to be respected by the PSNI.
Despite this the event was targeted by the PSNI and participants were harassed.
Throughout the pandemic we have witnessed selective policing when it comes to Black Lives Matter, workers rights, women’s rights and now Palestine solidarity.
Just over a year ago the ‘Unity of Purpose’ group, SDLP, Sinn Féin and Alliance joined the DUP to greenlight a PSNI crackdown on Black Lives Matter protests in Derry leading to prosecutions of BAME campaigners and mass fines of protestors.
The entire Executive doubled-down on its support for the BLM crackdown by retrospectively voting in the last minute legislation allowing the protests to be targeted. When the DUP called for the full weight of the law to be brought down on those attending the BLM protests the SDLP, Sinn Féin and others were silent.
Subsequent investigations found widespread intimidation, discrimination and violations of civil rights by the PSNI.
The political establishment needs to send a clear message there won’t be a repeat of this debacle and that police harassment of Palestine solidarity is unacceptable.
Apartheid Israel has killed hundreds of innocent people in Gaza with precision-guided missiles delivered by the Biden Administration. More than 60 children have been killed.
The world is standing up for Palestine and calling for an end to the violence of the apartheid war machine.
We need to be on the streets in massive numbers to challenge these atrocities.
More mass actions are planned this weekend. We encourage everyone outraged at the bombardment of Gaza and ethnic-cleansing in Jerusalem to join the socially-distanced emergency action for Palestine 3pm Saturday at Free Derry Wall.
Stormont, the Dáil and Westminster must end their complicity with the US-led attempt to normalise Israeli Apartheid. People power is needed to pressure the political establishment to join the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign to isolate the Apartheid Israeli regime as Apartheid South Africa was.”
Link to Saturday Palestine Solidarity Action:
https://fb.me/e/YyPD19Pe