Last night protesters demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza disrupted a private viewing of Yoko Ono’s new exhibition at Tate Modern.
At the event, which Ono did not attend, activists unfurled a banner that read: “Yoko: peace for who? Tate: end yr silence Ceasefire now!”.
The protesters, some of whom were wearing surgical masks, chanted “Free Palestine!” and “Ceasefire now!”.
Many in the crowd applauded. Some joined in with the chants. The chanting continued for a number of minutes and Tate officials were hesitant to remove the protesters from the gallery.
Tate director Karin Hindsbo, whose introductory speech the protesters had disrupted, shrugged her shoulders and said “we welcome everyone”.
One Tate worker intervened by holding an opened umbrella in front of one of the female protesters. He was booed and withdrew the umbrella. “I was only trying to defend the Tate. I’m not against the protesters’ aims,” he told us.
Artist and Evening Standard columnist Tracey Emin was among the crowd. Other artists present included Grayson Perry, Cornelia Parker and Yinka Shonibare.
A spokesperson for Tate said: “Two members of the public protested at an event at Tate Modern yesterday evening. They left peacefully after 20 minutes and the event continued as planned.”
Ono, who turned 91 last week, remained in New York for the opening of the London exhibition, titled “Music of the Mind”.
The exhibition, which opens to the public tomorrow and runs until 1st September, is a major retrospective for a woman dubbed “‘the world’s most famous unknown artist” by her late husband John Lennon.
Ono and Lennon famously engaged in peace protests against the continuation of the Vietnam War in the late 1960s and early 1970s and sang the anti-war song “Give Peace A Chance”.
