Police have been accused of suppressing legitimate protest after a woman was arrested for chanting “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and given bail conditions banning her from Manchester city centre or from being in a group of more than three people.
Masa Khawaja, 26, from Lancashire, was arrested for the chant outside the offices of BNY Mellon in Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester, during a demonstration against the bank’s investment of more than £10m in the Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems.
The meaning of the chant is contested, with many criticising it as an antisemitic demand for the destruction of the state of Israel. In October, the then home secretary, Suella Braverman, wrote to chief constables in England and Wales asking them to consider whether it might be an offence “in certain contexts”. Others argue that it is simply a plea for a free Palestinian state.
The Metropolitan police, the UK’s largest police force, has said that while the chant “could be unlawful” if directed at Jewish people, groups or institutions, “it is likely that its use in a wider protest setting … would not be an offence and would not result in arrests”.
Khawaja, who is of Palestinian heritage, said she was on the microphone at the 29 February demonstration when a police officer approached and threatened her with arrest for chanting the words.
She ignored him, telling the Guardian: “In response, I said [on the microphone], ‘We are vilified and demonised for calling for our liberation. When we say from the river to the sea, we are calling for liberation after 75 years of colonisation. How dare you – the police – come to us and say that we can’t call for our liberation and try and censor us?’
“We resumed the chanting quite deliberately, as a way of saying, ‘You’re not going to silence us because there’s no basis for you to arrest us.’”
She said less than a minute later officers dragged her to a police van. Khawaja said she was held in custody for about 13 hours before being interviewed for 10 minutes at Bury police station. It was another couple of hours before she was released on bail, at around 1am.
“They said: ‘You’ve been arrested for racially aggravated public order because from the river to the sea is racially aggravated speech,’” she said. “They never said who it was directed towards, even though the solicitor asked them who were the persons supposedly being harassed or targeted. They went quiet – the police didn’t answer the question.”
She was bailed until 28 May on condition that she is not in a group of more than three people (except family), does not enter Manchester city centre (except for a legal, medical or educational appointment), approach any Elbit-associated company or contact anyone else arrested at the demonstration. The Guardian understands that another woman was arrested for the chant, while others taking part in a simultaneous separate Palestine Action occupation of BNY Mellon’s office were also detained.
“Six words got me four bail conditions,” said Khawaja. “It’s absolutely ridiculous. They clearly are trying to suppress the right to protest. And there were other people chanting the same phrase as I was getting arrested and nothing happened – why specifically [target] someone who is Palestinian?”
Kat Hobbs, a spokesperson for the Network for Police Monitoring (Netpol), said: “With intense government pressure on police to crack down on Palestine solidarity activism, we’re seeing more and more unpredictable and reactionary policing. The police seem to be incapable of using their powers responsibly. Campaigners are left facing uncertainty – slogans, chants and banners which were once common on Palestine demonstrations can now get you arrested. This is part of a concerted effort by police and government to scare people off the streets.”
Greater Manchester police confirmed the arrest and bail pending further inquiries.
A police source said that while the chant was not an offence in itself, it could be a public order offence “owing to other factors, such as things going on in the immediate area”.
