An aged Holocaust survivor has been questioned by police after he laid flowers at Trafalgar Sq. throughout a Gaza protest to commemorate the tens of thousands of Palestinians killed within the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Stephen Kapos, 87, was interviewed by the Metropolitan Police on Friday about the pro-Palestine protest on 18 January in central London – an indication the pressure confronted accusations of “repressive and heavy-handed policing” over on the time.
Mr Kapos lived in hiding underneath the Nazi regime as a toddler in Budapest, Hungary, after he misplaced contact along with his mom, and his father was taken to Bergen-Belsen focus camp.
He’s amongst 9 individuals who have been known as in by the Met for questioning after 77 individuals had been arrested on the day of the protest. To date, 21 individuals have since been charged.
Talking outdoors Charing Cross Police Station following his interview on Friday afternoon, Mr Kapos advised The Unbiased he deliberate to proceed marching for peace in Gaza, describing how “proud” he’s that his household, together with his son and grandchildren, additionally be a part of him.
He mentioned he wished to disprove claims that “there may be strong assist from all Jews in the direction of what is going on on”.
Mr Kapos spoke surrounded by round 100 supporters, quite a few whom had been both Holocaust survivors or descendants of them. A banner studying “Holocaust survivor descendants in opposition to Gaza genocide!” was one of many indicators being held up, whereas chants corresponding to “We’re all Palestinians” had been known as out by the group.
The grandfather confused the significance of this throughout every week when Israel launched a contemporary wave of assaults on the Gaza Strip, shattering the delicate ceasefire that had held for the previous few weeks in a transfer he described as “horrifying”.
“The kind of killing that’s happening, it’s insufferable to observe and one wonders the place it’s resulting in as a result of there isn’t a defence to talk of. They’re defenceless individuals out within the open.
“Their properties have been bombed to smithereens and they’re in tents and now they will be bombed. It’s insufferable and I don’t perceive how the world can stand it.
“And I’m ashamed of our authorities and all people else who facilitates it and allows it.”
Mr Kapos strongly criticised the UK authorities’s response, calling for it to sentence Israel’s actions and to finish all army contracts.
“They need to on the very minimal condemn Israel’s actions, which they don’t do, and instantly cease all provides of armaments and every other logistical and knowledge assist that they do give,” he mentioned.
“All that must be stopped instantly as a result of there’s little question about this being an atrocity and worldwide crime, what’s happening, what’s perpetrated by Israel. So how will you hesitate within the face of that?”
Earlier this week Sir Keir Starmer mentioned he was “deeply concerned” in regards to the resumption of Israeli army motion in Gaza.
The prime minister’s official spokesperson insisted “all events, together with Israel, should respect worldwide humanitarian regulation”.
“We’re clear that Israel should have safety, and Hamas can not play any function in the way forward for Gaza, however we should see the talks urgently resume, the ceasefire settlement to implement in full and see everlasting peace labored in the direction of.”
Mr Kapos described protesting as “exerting stress by way of numbers to make it clear that every one this may have electoral penalties”.
Mr Kapos additionally wished to spotlight how the demonstrations “will not be hate marches” and “will not be no-go areas for Jews, which is once more claimed”.
The Met argues protesters allegedly breached Public Order Act situations that had been in place through the 18 January demonstration, which had been communicated upfront. They are saying the situations required these participating to stay in Whitehall, however a “giant group” made its manner into Trafalgar Sq. and in some instances tried to go additional.
A Met Police spokesperson mentioned: “As a part of our ongoing investigation into alleged breaches of Public Order Act situations on Saturday, 18 January, we’ve got invited an extra eight individuals to be interviewed underneath warning at a police station.
“Whereas we’re conscious of names being attributed to those that have been invited for interview, we don’t verify the id of anybody underneath investigation.”
For authorized causes, Mr Kapos was unable to offer particulars on his police interview, or if the precise causes behind why he was summoned had been disclosed to him.
Nevertheless, that day, Mr Kapos was amongst a bunch of demonstrators who carried flowers to put down in Trafalgar Sq. to recollect the greater than 48,000 Palestinians who’ve thus far been killed, in accordance with Gaza’s well being officers, since Hamas’s assault on Israel on 7 October 2023. Hamas militants killed 1,200 individuals and took 251 hostages, in accordance with Israeli tallies.
In keeping with the Cease the Conflict Coalition, all the activists who obtained police letters calling them in for questioning by the Met had been amongst that group.
Greater than 50 MPs and friends, in addition to commerce union leaders and authorized consultants, had been amongst those that wrote to dwelling secretary Yvette Cooper on the time, demanding an unbiased inquiry into the techniques utilized by the Met on the 18 January protest.
A bunch of 40 “extraordinarily shocked” Holocaust survivors or descendants of Holocaust survivors have now written an open letter condemning the police’s questioning of Mr Kapos.
It reads: “Any repression of the proper to protest is unhealthy sufficient – however to persecute a Jewish 87-year-old whose Holocaust experiences compel him to talk out in opposition to the Gaza genocide is sort of appalling.”
Mark Etkind, co-organiser of Holocaust survivors and descendants in opposition to the Gaza genocide, is amongst these denouncing the pressure’s “over-policing” of the continuing pro-Palestine protests on the whole, describing it as “terrifying, not only for the Palestine motion, however for anybody who desires to protest and believes in British democracy”.
Holocaust survivor Dr Agnes Kory was additionally amongst these supporting Mr Kapos outdoors Charing Cross Police Station on Friday and issued a robust condemnation of Israel’s assault on Gaza.
She mentioned: “Within the title of a Holocaust survivor, which is me, and a Holocaust researcher, which can be me, I say no, not in our names, and I’ve to be on the forefront of peace for Palestine actions.”
In a report earlier this month, United Nations consultants mentioned Israel carried out “genocidal acts” in opposition to Palestinians by systematically destroying girls’s healthcare services through the battle in Gaza, and used sexual violence as a conflict technique.
Israel’s everlasting mission to the UN in Geneva rejected the accusations and described allegations within the report as unfounded, bias, and missing credibility.
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