Spanish activists Casa Palestina asked the world to come together over the weekend and hold the US government accountable for its complicity in Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people. Joining more than 30 cities world-wide, London responded with a 24-hour programme of events on Friday/Saturday, including the ‘Circle For Palestine’.
The Surge London worked with the Community Camp 4 Palestine and other allies to organise the event, which saw hundreds bring a huge variety of banners, large and small, to form a human chain outside the embassy, where they stood in silent vigil for an hour, and then broke into chants and songs for Palestine.
The water feature at the embassy was still running pink after Greenpeace poured bio-degradable red dye into it earlier in the week.
The Surge London is part of an international anti-fascist movement connecting the climate and environmental crisis, the rise of the far-right, and the oppression of Palestine, Kashmir, Congo, Sudan and beyond. The Community Camp 4 Palestine first appeared a year ago opposite the US embassy at Nine Elms, but has held a continuous 24/7 presence right through the winter, since September 1st. It is volunteer-run, with ‘guardians’ remaining awake at night to protect the camp and any overnight sleepers. There is a small kitchen, some tents, and they run regular events including film-screenings.
Real Media was pleased to answer an invite to hold a film screening and panel discussion there in February, and we were amazed at how the crew laid on food, heat, a film screen, and decent sound in the midst of howling winds, rain and freezing temperatures. The local community has generally been supportive, but the camp occasionally has experienced outside trouble. A group of ten young men tried to remove banners earlier this month on a Saturday night, and this rare attack turned vicious. Shouting racist slogans such as ‘Fuck Palestine’, the thugs beat three guardians, and one was briefly hospitalised as a result. Although police were forced to record it as a hate crime, and the area (being near the US embassy) is presumably extensively surveilled, there is no news of any arrests.
On Saturday, the Metropolitan Police were however stopping vehicles that hooted in support of the protest, giving them ASBO warnings for unlawful use of their horns. This petty and ridiculous crackdown on protest came just ten days after the Met raided a Quaker meeting house to arrest six young people (one of them a journalist) who were planning disruptive protest against genocide.
After the Circle, the camp served food, and visitors listened to speeches and music to complete the 24-hour vigil and protest.
Since the start of Israel’s current war on Palestine, the US government has financed the Israeli military more than $20 billion.
