No wonder the invasion of Gaza by the Israeli army in
December 2008 provoked outrage. It turned into a one-sided massacre. More than
a thousand Palestinians were killed, including 400 children, while Israeli
soldiers suffered only a handful of casualties. Not surprisingly it led to
protests all over the world, including a demonstration outside the Israeli
Embassy in London, which Socialist Appeal supporters took part in.
The demonstration in January 2009 was joined by people from
all walks of life, black and white and some Jews, united in anger against the
slaughter. It became confrontational, according to participants, on account of
the heavy-handed behaviour of the police. They went in for ‘kettling’ the
protesters, as they did in the G20 protests later in the year, bottling them up
for hours. This seems consciously intended to inflame the demonstrators’ anger.
Sticks used to hold placards and plastic bottles were apparently thrown at the
police in frustration. On the whole those present agree that the demonstration
did not turn as ugly as the G20 demo in April where Ian Tomlinson, a newspaper
seller who was just trying to walk home, was killed by the police.
So the massive over-reaction of the police and the courts
months later against the Gaza demonstrators has come as a shock to those
at the
sharp end of the repression, and their families and the communities they
live
in. So far as we can tell, no more than
half of those present were Muslims. Yet 76 of the 78 arrested so far in
connection with the violence provoked by the police at the demo are
Muslims.
Usually people convicted of minor public order offences get
a suspended sentence or community service. Judge John Denniss has been
handing
down savage sentences of up to two and a half years at Isleworth Crown
Court. He says he is doing this as a
deterrent. For instance Mosab al-Ani was told by the judge, "I know
you came here peacefully, I know you have an excellent character, I know you
were not armed, you said sorry to the police.” then, “I’m going to give you
this sentence to deter other people." This is widely and
understandably seen as criminalising and demonising Muslims.
Months after the demonstration Muslim households have had their
doors broken down by police raids in the middle of the night. Family members
have been handcuffed and arrested in front of their nearest and dearest,
property such as computers and phones confiscated ‘as evidence’ and the whole
family terrified by the experience. After this trauma the person ‘guilty’ of
being present at the Gaza demonstration is likely to be advised to plead guilty
in court. They are promised this will almost certainly mean no custodial
sentence. Then Judge Denniss hits them for six and every Muslim in Britain is
made to feel that the establishment is picking on them.
A few days ago Jake
Smith (not a Muslim) refused to plead guilty to a charge of violent disorder
and took the challenge to the police. It emerged that they had done a ‘cut and
paste’ job with their CCTV footage to stitch him up. Jake found some footage
that told a different story on Facebook. Their ‘evidence’ was a pure
fabrication. Two days before the hearing they confessed that they were sitting
on hours more CCTV evidence. The Crown Prosecution Service, with egg on their
faces, offered no evidence at the trial. Jake was found not guilty. More
important, the whole police ‘investigative’ method was shown to be rotten. How many more have been sent down on account
of this?
As a result of these police techniques, people of previous
good character received prison sentences that could effectively ruin the rest
of their lives. How will they ever get a decent job with a criminal record? As
a way of alienating and embittering Muslims in Britain, this persecution could
hardly be bettered. As Bruce Kent, former general secretary of CND, who was on
the demo, comments “I don’t know why there isn’t absolute outrage … All this will
do is solidify in people’s minds the idea that there is a persecution of
Muslims which is determined and organised and will result in some young people
being radicalised.”
Socialists have been aware for more than a century that
public order offences such as ‘affray’ and ‘unlawful assembly’ are essentially
meaningless and give the police blanket powers to stitch up anyone they grab on
a demonstration. This truth has been forcibly been brought home to people, the
vast majority of whom have been brought to respect the law. Now they are
learning better. Don’t let the authorities get away with this persecution.
