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A ‘boycott tour’ of Broadmead
Pro-Palestine protesters made their way from shop to shop in Broadmead and the Galleries to encourage a boycott of businesses for allegedly financially supporting Israel.
Sainsbury’s sell dates from Israel. Burger King provide food to Israeli soldiers. Pret A Manger want to open new cafes in Israel.
Robert Dyas stocks SodaStreams, whose new factory is allegedly “actively complicit in Israel’s policy of displacing the indigenous Bedouin-Palestinian citizens of Israel” according to a Palestinian-led campaign group.
is needed now More than ever
Protesters held up letters spelling out ‘boycott Israel’ – photo: Rob Browne
The ‘boycott tour of Broadmead’ on Saturday was organised by the newly formed Bristol Palestine Alliance.
A few dozen people first gathered outside Barclays, with security staff shutting its front door as protesters attempted to walk inside the bank.
Speeches were made including by one woman wrapped in the Palestine flag who questioned the accepted narrative around the attacks on Israel by Hamas on October 7.
The Washington DC-based Center for Strategic & International Studies, a non-profit policy research organisation, has called October 7 “one of the worst terrorist attacks in history”.
Another of the protesters speaking before the walk to 15 businesses started said that Bristol “is a city that always likes to stand on the right side of history”.
He said: “Our aim today definitely isn’t to disrupt the public. After all, we want the public on our side. We are the public.
“We see this as an educational tour a bit like a guide to ethical shopping. We want to inform people how they can avoid supporting Israel’s war machine with their purses and wallets.”
Barclays was forced to close briefly despite protesters claiming that they did not want to disrupt the public – photo: Rob Browne
Main photo: Rob Browne
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