Pro-Palestine Campaigner Defends Call to Swarm Parliament

People take part in a Palestine Solidarity Campaign rally outside the Houses of Parliament in London, as MPs debate calls for a ceasefire in Gaza on Feb. 21, 2024. Lucy North/PA Wire

A pro-Palestine campaigner defended trying to swarm Parliament on Wednesday as it was reported he wanted “so many” people to show up that Parliament needs to be shut down.

Ben Jamal, the director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), which organised the campaign on Wednesday, defended trying to get some 3,000 protesters into Parliament, saying the PSC “absolutely reject any argument that it is unacceptable for peaceful protests to take place outside of MPs’ office.”

The campaign was organised on the day MPs were debating on whether to call for a ceasefire in Israel and Gaza. On Wednesday evening, slogans, including the controversial chant “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” were beamed onto the Elizabeth Tower.

Mr. Jamal said the PSC “was not involved in the projection … but were pleased to see it.”

A video published by The Times of London, which the newspaper said was filmed on the day, appears to show Mr. Jamal telling a crowd, “We are planning the biggest lobbying in parliamentary history. We want to see a queue stretching from Parliament all the way through Whitehall. We want so many of you to come that they will have to lock the doors of Parliament itself.”

According to the campaign group, 3,000 pro-Palestine protesters turned up to meet their MPs on the day in “one of the largest physical lobbies of Parliament in history.”

The PSC also said that “most were denied entry, ending up queuing for over 4 hours in the rain” because a “special procedure” was imposed, allowing only 50 pro-Palestinian protesters into Parliament at any time, while any other group have been allowed to bring as many as they want into Parliament.”

People take part in a Palestine Solidarity Campaign rally outside the Houses of Parliament, London, as MPs debate calls for a ceasefire in Gaza on Feb. 21, 2024. Lucy North/PA Wire

The campaign comes as some MPs are fearing threats from aggressive pro-Palestine protesters and extremists.

While most participants of the weekly PSC protests are non-violent, many of their slogans and signs are seen by critics as being anti-Semitic in nature, and police said there was some violence from small breakaway groups.

Shadow Wales Secretary Jo Stevens’s office in Cardiff was vandalised last year as she abstained in a vote to call for a ceasefire. Justice minister Mike Freer, whose office was staked out by terrorist Ali Harbi Ali who eventually murdered Sir David Amess, recently announced his intention to leave politics following following multiple threats and an arson attack. Earlier this month, dozens of protesters came under criticism for demonstrating outside Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood’s home in an evening.

House of Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle, whose handling of the ceasefire debate on Wednesday led to chaos and calls for his resignation, also cited the security of MPs as one of the reasons he prioritised Labour’s amendment on a Scottish National Party opposition day debate.

In a statement, Mr. Jamal denied the group’s tactic on Wednesday is a threat to MPs.

“The issue of MPs’ security is serious but cannot be used to shield MPs from democratic accountability,” he said.

“The idea that calling for people to lobby Parliament in large numbers is a threat to MPs or inspires fear in them is grotesque and undermines a basic principle of democratic government, that members of the public have a right to attend Parliament and ask to meet with their MPs face to face to articulate their concerns on any issue.”

He said the group “does not call” for protests outside MPs’ homes and believed parliamentarians have a right “to have their privacy respected.”

Speaking to The Times of London, Mr. Ellwood said the PSC displayed ignorance “on so many levels.”

“Firstly the idea that MPs can be bullied into supporting a cause undermines the very principle of democracy. Secondly, it deters good people from considering public office if they continue to be threatened in this way,” he said.

Lord Walney, the government’s independent adviser on political violence and disruption, told the publication that he believes Mr Jamal’s comments, “coupled with the repeated ways in which protesters are clearly overstepping the line, shows a far-left militancy which is driving this protest.”

“That sense of threat and the idea of overwhelming a democratic institution with numbers means that this is not simply about the force of argument, it’s about trying to apply a physical pressure to Parliament, as part of intimidating MPs into doing what they want,” he said.