Police drop ‘globalise the intifada’ case against Peter Tatchell after protest arrest
Peter Tatchell was arrested at a protest for Palestine in January (Getty Images | Peter Tatchell)
The Metropolitan Police have dropped a case against Peter Tatchell, after he was arrested at a pro-Palestine protest for a “Globalise the intifada” placard.
Human rights campaigner Tatchell was arrested on 31 January at a march, after carrying a placard which read: “Globalise the intifada. Non-violent resistance. End Israel’s occupation of Gaza & West Bank.”
The 74-year-old was bailed on the condition that he would not attend any other pro-Palestine demonstrations.
He has since been granted unconditional bail, after a magistrate found that the conditions set were “unreasonable and disproportionate”, he saud.
Speaking on 29 April, Tatchell said: “The police claimed that my use of the word intifada was a racially and religiously aggravated offence under Section 5 of the Public Order Act. Not true. My placard did not mention anyone’s race or religion. Many Jewish & Israeli people also non-violently oppose Netanyahu & his mass killing of Palestinian civilians. Police are not enforcing the law; they are fabricating interpretations of it.
“My arrest was an attack on free speech. The police claim the word intifada is unlawful. But it is not a crime in law. The police are interpreting public order legislation in ways never intended by parliament. They are undermining the right to protest and engaging in overreach by making expression of the word intifada an arrestable offence.
“This is part of a dangerous trend to increasingly restrict and criminalise peaceful protests.”
He continued: “The Arab word intifada means uprising, rebellion or resistance against Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. It does not mean violence and is not antisemitic. It is against the Israeli regime and its war crimes, not against Jewish people.
“By ‘non-violent resistance’ I was advocating boycott, sanction and divestment – the same tactics that helped bring down the apartheid regime in South Africa.
‘My arrest was an attack on free speech’
“’Globalise the intifada’ means create a worldwide campaign in support of Palestinian rights, similar to the anti-apartheid movement.
“The police are misguided to conflate support for Palestinian resistance to oppression with hatred and attacks on Jews.
“I have a long history of defending Jewish people against the antisemitism of the far right and Islamist extremists. I joined the March Against Antisemitism, with the Chief Rabbi and thousands of Jewish people, on 26 November 2023, after the 7 October massacre.”
Tatchell is now consulting his solicitors about a civil action against the police for wrongful arrest, 12 hours in detention and the ban on him attending Palestine protests.
It was his 104th arrest or detention by the police in the 59 years he has been campaigning for human rights.
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