Roar Photographer Thomas Noonan reports that he and other students from King’s College London (KCL) were subject to harassment and verbal abuse at a protest in front of the London School of Economics (LSE) yesterday.
At the protest, pro-Israel groups decried the LSE Middle East Centre’s book launch of ‘Understanding Hamas and Why That Matters,’ claiming the event whitewashes the atrocities of 7 October 2023 and normalises terrorist narratives.
In response, pro-Palestine counter-protestors from several London student societies, including KCL, converged at LSE in support of the event under the slogan “Keep fascists off our campus!”
Provocations and Harassment
The evening was marked by a number of provocations. GB News confronted the pro-Palestine counter-protestors. Crowds of external pro-Israel protestors intimidated students with Islamophobic slurs and tropes.
In one instance, a woman shouted at Millie Gordon, a Muslim KCL student, that “[her] people are rapists”. This was in reference to grooming gang scandals. Gordon is a KCLSU candidate for Vice President Welfare and Community and an organiser of KCL Stands 4 Justice.
Individual pro-Israel agitators acted similarly, harassing, intimidating or verbally abusing the counter-demonstrators.
One prominent pro-Israel KCL student waved a photograph of Gordon. The photograph showed her wearing a hijab, rather than the niqab she regularly wears. She described the incident as an intimidation attempt.
The student who exposed the photograph explained to Roar that he wanted to make a ‘joke’. He added that, as a Jewish student supporting Israel, he does not feel safe on campus with Gordon as a Welfare Officer.
I was also the target of abuse by pro-Israel protestors attempting to intimidate me at various points during the evening. I was told to “f**k off”, slapped with flyers and falsely reported to the police for harassment.
KCL groups and students were represented in both the protest and counter-protest crowds. One KCL speaker for the pro-Israel side explained that, despite not being Israeli or Jewish, he felt compelled to defend Israel as a gay man who would only be allowed to marry a man in Israel. Same-sex marriages are legal in Israel, but they can only be performed outside of the country.
At sunset, counter-protestors held space for those who needed to pray and break their fast. A large iftar was prepared for those observing Ramadan. Students also projected the Palestinian flag and common pro-Palestine slogans over the LSE building and pro-Israel crowd.
To read about recent Israel/Palestine protests and counter-protests at KCL, click here.
Editor’s Note: This article was updated at 10:40am on 12 March to include information about same-sex marriages in Israel.
