On Wednesday, April 1, Palestine Solidarity Campaign’s Ben Jamal and Stop the War Coalition’s Chris Nineham were found guilty of breaching public order in a decision activists have described as “extraordinary and shocking.” The two were accused of not complying with police instructions, despite abundant testimony to the contrary.
The prosecution against Jamal and Nineham followed a massive Palestine solidarity demonstration in London in January 2025 – when approximately 100,000 people took to the streets to demand justice for Palestinians and an end to the genocide in Gaza. Since then, activist networks and progressive organizations have warned that the case represents yet another attempt by the government to stifle solidarity with Palestine and limit the right to protest.
“It will not work,” Jamal said after the ruling was delivered, as he and Nineham announced they would appeal the decision and invited everyone to join the upcoming Palestine solidarity demonstration on May 16, marking the anniversary of the Nakba. “We will not be silenced.”
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The police claimed Jamal and Nineham did not comply with instructions issued at the time, even inciting others to do the same. Over 70 protesters were arrested during the same demonstration for breaching limitations that the police announced last-minute, leaving insufficient time for attendees to familiarize themselves with them. “Claims of disorder on the day were simply false,” the Palestine Coalition said in a statement. “The only moment of violence was when Chris Nineham was brutally pulled to the ground and hauled away by police officers.”
This incident took place as Nineham, along with a small group of other protesters including Holocaust survivors and parliamentarians Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell, tried to reach the BBC headquarters to lay flowers for the – by then – at least 18,000 children killed in Gaza. The BBC‘s coverage has been widely criticized for failing to report truthfully and comprehensively, treating information from Israeli authorities as objective.
“Ben made clear that, if stopped by the police, the flowers would be laid at the police line,” the Palestine Coalition statement said. “In the event, as copious video evidence shows, police officers invited the delegation to pass through.” After this, however, other police officers violently confronted the protesters and triggered the arrests of Jamal and Nineham – which Corbyn and McDonnell described as “bizarre” at the time.
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“This is a shocking miscarriage of ‘justice,'” the Jewish Bloc for Palestine said of the ruling. “It is happening under current law; the Crime and Policing Bill which has almost completed its passage through parliament will further exacerbate the situation by giving police sweeping new powers to disrupt public protest.”
“The appeal will be costly in money,” they added. “It will be even more costly in energy that should be directed at halting Israel’s aggression. Aggression which has spread from the destruction of Gaza to the undeclared annexation of the West Bank; to the bombing of Lebanon and Iran; to the occupation of Lebanese and Syrian territory. Belligerence marked by death and destruction in every case.”
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