Three people have become the first in Britain to face racial hatred charges for allegedly chanting “intifada” at a pro-Palestine demonstration.
Abdallah Alanzi, 24, Haya Adam, 21, and Azza Zaki, 60, were charged by the Metropolitan Police with using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour intending to stir up racial hatred.
The trio were arrested at a protest outside the Ministry of Justice in Petty France, Westminster, on the evening of Wednesday 17 December after being identified as allegedly involved in the chanting.
The Met’s Public Order Crime team investigated not only the specific chant but also other shouts heard during the course of the demonstration. The force said the charges authorised reflected the totality of the alleged offending that evening. A 17-year-old boy arrested on the same night will face no further action.
The charges follow a joint announcement in December by Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley and Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Sir Stephen Watson that the phrase “globalise the intifada” had been banned from protests in London and Manchester.
In their statement, the senior officers said the Jewish community was “worried and scared” and that rising anti-Jewish crime had significantly impacted Jewish life. They acknowledged that “current laws are inadequate” and said police would “recalibrate to be more assertive” in response to the escalating threat.
The term intifada refers to Palestinian uprisings against Israel in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The first intifada lasted from 1987 to 1993, while the second began in 2000 and was marked by suicide bombings, shootings and stabbings that killed over 1,000 Israelis, many of them civilians.
The phrase has become particularly contentious when used in slogans such as “globalise the intifada”, which many interpret as a call to spread violence beyond the Middle East rather than peaceful activism.
The charges come days after pro-Palestine demonstrators were filmed chanting the banned phrase at a protest in Kent, where they clashed with police outside Instro Precision, a subsidiary of Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems. A man was arrested at that rally following reports of fireworks being thrown.
Mr Alanzi, Mr Adam and Mr Zaki are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday 23 February.
