Those “peaceful human rights activists” were at it again last night, this time at King’s College in London.
Richard Millett reports:
Police were called to King’s College London last night as anti-Israel protesters set off fire alarms, smashed a window while chanting “Free, free Palestine!” at the event featuring former Shin Bet chief Ami Ayalon at King’s College.
The event’s co-host Esther Endfield, claims she was “assaulted” during the uproar.
Universities and Science Minister Jo Johnson said: “Britain and Israel share many important academic links and speakers must be able to address meetings peacefully. Our universities should be safe spaces for students to expand their minds, and there can be no justification for violent intimidation that curtails free speech.”
The Metropolitan Police told Jewish News that no arrests have been made. A spokesperson added: “Police were called at 17:18hrs on Tuesday, 19 January, to reports of a number of protesters outside a university campus in Surrey Street, WC2. Officers attended and found that a small number of those protesting had gained access to the building where they continued their protest. The demonstration concluded at approximately 18:45.”
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A statement by the Union of Jewish Students read: “There can be no justification for the events last night at KCL. The KCLSU Israel society were hosting an event about peace and were greeted by violence and intimidation.
As a reminder, when they shout “Free free Palestine” they are speaking of the entire land of Israel – and you can hear that explicitly with “From the River to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
Richard also has video of the protesters outside the building. Note the cracked window.
StandWithUs has posted video from inside the building. You can hear banging and fire alarms going off.
They pulled fire alarms, banged on the windows and threw chairs in an attempt to stop the event. They assaulted students exiting the event and hurled insults at them such as “Nazi” and “War Criminal.” The event was forced to end early and attendees exited through a back door with police presence. Over a dozen police were called in.
One of the organizers of the event reports “attendees inside felt the walls and windows shake as they were struggling to hear the talk, looking genuinely scared for their security. Indeed they had reason to. It got violent as a few managed to push their way into the building, broke a glass window and physically assault[ed] a friend of mine…This came along with a tirade of verbal abuse inches from the faces of many Jewish students. It got to a stage where the police felt the need to call in around 15 police officers and two vans. Two female friends of mine cried from the fear and abuse and I stood there staring at a poster on the door declaring Kings College London to be a ‘safe space’ and thought – what a lie”
https://www.facebook.com/StandWithUs/videos/vb.19459912688/10153434033957689/?type=2&theater
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The group behind the violent protest is KCL Action Palestine. In a Facebook post, they do not deny the violence yet absolve themselves from responsibility for it.
In light of the accusations surrounding yesterday’s events, KCL Action Palestine would like to categorically condemn any aggression that took place at the Israel Society’s Ami Ayalon event.
KCLAP had planned to challenge Ami Ayalon and inform the audience of his complicity in the torture of Palestinians as former head of the Shin Bet and the problems surrounding his current views – as is within our rights and detailed on our blog (https://permissiontonarrate.wordpress.com/…/kclaps-stateme…/). Our intention was to attend the event and shed light on Ayalon’s crimes and views through deliberation.
That the event escalated into a disruption was beyond our control and not incited by any member of our committee. KCLAP is not connected and does not control the actions of external attendees. As stated we do not condone any aggressive reaction on our campuses. Some of our members protested after they were left out and people were arbitrarily selected to go into the event, we refute any involvement with what took place beyond this.
How pathetic! Clearly they are responsible. By calling for a protest of Ami Ayalon, using incendiary language against him and Israel, they at the very least created an atmosphere where people on their side were going to want to spill blood.
They are just sorry they got caught.
Update: More footage here:
