Pro-Palestine campaigners stage 'die in' protest in west London after Palestinian teenager is 'burned alive'

 
Protest: campaigners lie on the street in west London (Picture: Twitter/@HniaziISF)
Rachel Blundy5 July 2014

Pro-Palestine campaigners held a 'die in' protest in west London today to highlight what they see as the "horrific escalation of racism and violence" in the country by the Israeli authorities.

Protesters gathered outside the Israeli Embassy close to Kensington High Street to call on Israel to stop attacks on Palestinian citizens and to end its occupation of Gaza.

At one point they brought traffic to a standstill and had to be moved along by police.

Members of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign were joined by the Friends of Al-Aqsa, the London Palestine Action, the British Muslim Initiative and the Palestinian Forum in Britain, as well as supporters of the Stop the War Coalition and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

Promoting the protest on its website, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign said: "Palestinians living under Israeli occupation are currently facing a horrific escalation of racism and violence as the Israeli State pursues a strategy of collective punishment."

The event was sparked by the recent killing of Palestinian teenager Mohammed Abu Khdair.

The 17-year-old was reportedly burned alive on July 1 in what some are describing as a 'revenge attack' following the murder of three Israeli teenagers, who were abducted and killed in the West Bank.

Tensions between the two countries have subsequently been building in recent days and clashes have spread into Arab Israeli towns.

Israel launched a massive crackdown on the Islamic militant group Hamas after the abduction of the Israeli teenagers, while retaliatory Palestinian rocket attacks and Israeli airstrikes intensified.

The military says Palestinian militants have fired more than 150 rockets at southern Israel, and it has responded with airstrikes on more than 70 targets in Gaza.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in