Activist Peter Tatchell has been arrested at a pro-Palestine protest in London on Saturday for holding a placard reading “Globalise the intifada”, his foundation has said.
The campaigner attended a Palestine solidarity march and held a sign that said: “Globalise the intifada: Non-violent resistance. End Israel’s occupation of Gaza & West Bank.”
In a statement released by the Peter Tatchell Foundation, the human rights campaigner said the arrest was “an attack on free speech”.
“The police claimed the word intifada is unlawful,” he said. “The word intifada is not a crime in law. The police are engaged in over-reach by making it an arrestable offence.
“This is part of a dangerous trend to increasingly restrict and criminalise peaceful protests.
“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. ‘Globalise the intifada’ means create a worldwide campaign like the anti-apartheid movement.
“The police are totally wrong to conflate support for Palestinian resistance to oppression with hatred and attacks on Jews.”
Activist Peter Tatchell has been arrested at a pro-Palestine protest in London on Saturday for holding a placard reading “Globalise the intifada”, his foundation has said
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The campaigner had been marching near police officers with the sign on display for around a mile, from Russell Square to the top of the Strand.
The group then came across a counterprotest, a witness said, where he was stopped and “manhandled by 10 police officers”.
Mr Tatchell, 74, was taken to Sutton police station in south London following his arrest.
Two other people were also arrested on suspicion of showing support for a proscribed organisation at Saturday’s protest, police said.
Pro-Palestine protesters gathered in London on Saturday
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Mr Tatchell was arrested in May of last year for holding a placard reading: “Stop Israel genocide! Stop Hamas executions! Odai Al-Rubai, aged 22, executed by Hamas! RIP!”
The activist has since said he is taking legal action against the Met over the arrest.
In December, the Metropolitan Police said protesters chanting “globalise the intifada” will now be arrested because the “context has changed” in the wake of the Bondi Beach terror attack.
In a post on X, the Met said: “Officers policing the Palestine Coalition protest have arrested a 74-year-old man on suspicion of a public order offence. He was seen carrying a sign including the words ‘globalise the intifada’.”
The Met said earlier this week three people had been charged with using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour intending to stir up racial hatred.
Jewish groups have welcomed the crackdown, with the Community Security Trust, a charity which provides protection for Jews in the UK, saying in December it had come “not a moment too soon”.