Renowned activist arrested over placard at pro-Palestine protest

Peter Tatchell, 74, was carrying a sign that said ‘globalise the intifada’

Renowned activist Peter Tatchell has been arrested at a pro-Palestine march in central London, his foundation said on Saturday.

Mr Tatchell, 74, was arrested, it said, over a placard reading: “Globalise the intifada: Non-violent resistance. End Israel’s occupation of Gaza & West Bank.”

In a statement released by the Peter Tatchell Foundation, Mr Tatchell said Saturday’s arrest was “an attack on free speech”.

He said: “The police claimed the word intifada is unlawful. The word intifada is not a crime in law.

“The police are engaged in overreach by making it an arrestable offence.

“This is part of a dangerous trend to increasingly restrict and criminalise peaceful protests.”

Police speak to a protester at a pro-Palestine march in London on Saturday (Yui Mok/PA Wire)

Mr Tatchell said “intifada”, an Arab word, means “uprising, rebellion or resistance against Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza”.

He added: “It does not mean violence and is not antisemitic. It is against the Israeli regime and its war crimes, not against Jewish people.”

Mr Tatchell was taken to Sutton police station to be detained, according to his foundation.

The Metropolitan Police said in December that protesters chanting “globalise the intifada” would 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’.”

Peter Tatchell insisted that his placard was not antisemitic (PA)

Mr Tatchell had been marching near police officers and with the sign on display for about a mile from Russell Square to the top of the Strand when the group came across a counterprotest, according to a witness.

At that point, he was stopped and “manhandled by 10 officers”, according to Jacky Summerfield, who was with him.

“I was shoved back behind a cordon of officers and unable to speak to him after that,” she said.

“I couldn’t get any closer to hear anything more than that; it was for Section 5 [of the Public Order Act].

“There had been no issue until that, he was walking near the police officers,” she added.

“Nobody had said or done anything.”