On 4th October, six people from Defend Our Juries with signs reading “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action” sat on the steps of Truro Cathedral, Cornwall. Around 50 supporters also gathered in a silent protest.

However, in stark contrast to the Metropolitan Police, Devon and Cornwall Police decided not to make any arrests. Instead the force sent two Police Liaison Officers who described the demo as “lovely and peaceful” and defended people’s right to protest to one passerby who heckled protesters.

This decision also undermines the repeated mainstream media, political, and policing narratives that the Met Police have been left with no choice other than use their resources to attempt to arrest over 1000 people in Trafalgar Square. There were repeated calls, including from Keir Starmer, for Defend Our Juries to postpone its London protest, so that police can concentrate their resources on protecting Jewish communities following the Manchester attack on Thursday. However, Devon and Cornwall Police also stated that they would prioritise protecting Jewish communities and have made a clear choice regarding their policing priorities.

Mat, a spokesperson for Kernow Defend Our Juries said:

“As ten Kernow citizens take the same action with over 1500 others in Trafalgar Square today, six people sat down on the steps of Truro Cathedral, with placards expressing their refusal to comply with the absurd proscription of Palestine Action as a “terrorist organisation”. Faced with a government tearing up what remains of an international rules-based order as it continues to actively collaborate in an ongoing genocide, we refuse to comply with its blantant abuse of the Terrorism Act 2000 to proscribe a non-violent citizen campaign standing in a proud, decades-long tradition of damaging weapons of war to prevent their use in crimes against humanity. With no shred of moral authority remaining to them, the UK government is depending on fear to silence dissent against their involvement in a crime that will define our generation. They have miscalculated: as thousands of UK citizens have already made clear – we will not comply.”  

One of the sitters said:

“I felt obligated both as a human being and as a Jew to protest the genocide today.  Having fasted on Yom Kippur – a day of reflection and atonement, it felt even more urgent not to simply think and feel, but to act on those reflections.”

A spokesperson for the Network for Police Monitoring (Netpol) said:

“The actions of Devon and Cornwall Police today exposes the policing priorities of the Metropolitan Police and this government. The protest in Truro shows that it is down to individual police forces to choose where they direct their resources, and the Met is clearly showing that their priority is arresting peaceful pensioners sitting with placards.

“Over the last two days, there has been an ongoing smear campaign to conflate pro-Palestine protests with the horrendous antisemitic actions of the Manchester attacker with politicians and pundits manipulatively and cynically using what happened to try to undermine people protesting a genocide by a far-right Israeli government.”

Image Via: Cobblestone Media.