‘Fingered’ is an inappropriate word to use as the police were extremely physical as each arrest involved a minimum of six police officers with the arrestees being physically dragged to a long line of police vans. These vehicles encircled Parliament Square. I was told they stretched all the way up the Charing Cross Road.
There were 50/60 Heddlu there––Welsh police––so clearly this task was too much for the Met to deal with alone, and they had to bring in support from the Celtic west. I had a short conversation with one of them. I said it must be nice to have a paid day out in London. He replied cheerfully, “Not just a day. We’re staying overnight.”
Mishandled by the forces of law and order, the afternoon was remarkably well organised by the opponents of genocide (sorry, ‘terrorists’). At exactly 15 minutes to 1PM (I know because Big Ben strikes the quarter hour), the many hundreds sitting on the grass placed their white placards on the ground, removed markers from their bags and pockets and wrote ‘ I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action’. At exactly 1PM they all held them above their heads, then lowered them to the ground and waited for their arrests.
The police moved quickly and started their anti-terrorism duties with enthusiasm. I’m old enough to remember the mass arrests of anti-nuclear CND and the Committee of 100 sit-down protestors in the 1960s. But in those long-gone days the police tapped the protestor on the shoulder and politely asked them if they would get up and walk with them to the police vans. Not yesterday. There were no polite requests, just a physical assault and a dragging away.
The most poignant memory I take away with me is the arrest of some Quakers with their banner and the doctor. I was tempted to talk with him after I took his photo, but didn't need to. If you have been in hospital as much as I have, you know that look. It’s the look of someone who has spent a lifetime staring at suffering and trying to do something about it.
As I walked up Whitehall through much of the 200K crowd at the main demonstration, I passed the Jewish Bloc, a reminder that Zionism and its genocide does not represent the Jewish community. Our government knows this to be the truth, which is why they must assault doctors and pensioners who so inconveniently remind us all of this fact
A few days later I met with an old friend who told me she kept quiet about being Jewish. I said nothing to her at the time, but lster wrote this to her. "I was a little shocked when you said you kept quiet about being Jewish. I think this the right time to celebrate the fact. I have been on most of the Gaza/Palestine marches and always get a lump in my throat when I pass the line of Holocaust survivors and their children/g.children who are always there and The Jewish Bloc - one of the largest and best organised 'contingents’. Then there are the Stamford Hill Hassidics who find walls to stand on and, because it’s usually a Saturday, walk all the way to and from the demo. The Jewish people always get the loudest applause from the crowd. I’m not Jewish but all my heroes, living and dead, in philosophy, arts, literature, theatre ,film, politics and humour are Jewish. I sm sure that’s the same for you as well. The only Jews’ who should hide are the Zionists. Here is Stephen Kapos, aged 87 and who I marched beside on 18 January. He was then questioned by the Met under the terrorism act!."
