Flashpoint fears as 1000s attend pro-Palestine rallies in Glasgow …

Thousands of pro-Palestine campaigners have taken to the streets of Glasgow and Edinburgh[1] to protest against Israel[2]'s uncompromising response to the Hamas terror attacks. The marchers chanted the slogan "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free". Home Secretary Suella Braverman has suggested this phrase could be an offence under the Public Order Act as it amounts to a call for Israel to be wiped from the map.

She wrote to police chiefs[3] in England and Wales calling for a crackdown on the slogan on Tuesday, although her call appears to have been ignored. Pictures published by The Herald showed Humza Yousaf[4]'s parents Shaaista Bhutta and Muzaffar Yousaf attending the demonstration in Glasgow, while in Edinburgh the demonstraters carried out an impromptu march on the Scottish Parliament. Further protests also took place in Dundee and Aberdeen.

In one disturbing video posted on X, formerly Twitter, by the Glasgow Friends of Israel group, a young woman draped in a Palestinian flag hurls abuse at Jewish people on Buchanan Street. She then appears to make two references to the Holocaust. It comes as thousands of people have gathered for pro-Palestine protests up and down the country on Saturday, including in , London, Bristol and Manchester.

More than 1,000 police officers were deployed in London, with the Met warning that anyone showing support for Hamas could face arrest. In London, protestors marched from the BBC's New Broadcasting House to Downing Street and ahead of the demonstration the BBC HQ was vandalised and covered in red paint. A Met spokesman said: "We are aware of criminal damage to a building in Portland Place, W1A."

Protesters on the route to Westminster could also be heard chanting "Rishi Sunak, shame on you" and the contentious slogan "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free".

It comes amid a sharp rise in antisemitic attacks in the capital and elsewhere. The conflict[6] began when Hamas terrorists launched multiple raids on Israel last Saturday, murdering hundreds of civilians and taking scores of hostages. At least 1,300 people have died in Israel in the initial assault and subsequent rocket attacks.

More than 2,200 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched retaliatory air strikes and a ground offensive is also expected, with 1.1million people in northern Gaza told to flee south to safety this weekend.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak[7] said Israel had "every right to defend itself" from Hamas attacks, but stressed that civilian safety must be "paramount in our minds". But SNP First Minister Humza Yousaf[8] - whose wife's parents are currently stranded in Gaza along with her brother and his family - has said Israel is "going too far" and that innocent civilians in Gaza can not simply be "collateral damage". Orly Goldschmidt, spokeswoman for the Israeli Embassy to the UK, said Israel was not targeting civilians but told Times Radio: "There will be innocent people who will pay tragically with their life, but this is a state of war and we have to prevent anyone from harming us again.

"We have no quarrel with the Palestinian people.

We are trying to protect ourselves from the Hamas barbaric organisation, which is exactly if not worse than Isis."

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References

1. ^ Edinburgh (www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk)
2. ^ Israel (www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk)
3. ^ wrote to police chiefs (www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk)
4. ^ Humza Yousaf (www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk)
5. ^ Nicola Sturgeon breaks silence on Israel/Palestinian war as Humza Yousaf criticises Israel (www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk)
6. ^ conflict (www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk)
7. ^ Rishi Sunak (www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk)
8. ^ Humza Yousaf (www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk)
9. ^ Facebook (www.facebook.com)
10. ^ Twitter (twitter.com)
11. ^ here (www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk)