— London & UK Street News (@CrimeLdn)
October 30, 2023
The unidentified activist, dressed all in black and wearing a Palestinian flag around his head, is shown carrying one of the boxes inside a McDonald's branch located in the city's StarCity complex and dumping the mice onto the floor.
The man could be heard yelling “Free Palestine” and “F*** Israel” as he left the premises, while shocked customers recoiled.
Following Hamas’s October terror attacks on Israel, McDonald's franchises in the Middle East have become a microcosm of the wider conflict dividing pro-Palestine and pro-Israel groups.
Mice painted in the colours of the Palestinian flag were scattered across the floor of the Birmingham McDonald's Monday night. (Photo: Twitter)
The vast majority of McDonald’s restaurants are franchised, meaning operators make decisions separately from the company. After Omri Padan, owner of the Israeli franchise, pledged a daily donation of 4,000 meals to IDF soldiers and healthcare workers.
In return, some have called for a boycott of McDonald's internationally with protests restaurants in countries including Egypt, Turkey, and Lebanon. Several franchises in the Arab world have pledged hundreds of thousands of pounds toward humanitarian relief efforts in Gaza.
In Birmingham, where 30 per cent of the population identifies as Muslim, according to the most recent Census data, pro-Palestine protests have gripped the city for three weekends.
McDonald's UK confirmed the incident on Monday night had taken place but would not say if police had been called.
In a statement the company said: “We are aware of an incident in our Birmingham Star City restaurant last night.
"The restaurant has been fully sanitised and our pest control partners have been called out to conduct a full inspection.”
McDonald's Corporation in the US also released a statement, regarding the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
It said: “We are dismayed by the disinformation and inaccurate reports regarding our position in response to the conflict in the Middle East. McDonald’s Corporation is not funding or supporting any governments involved in this conflict, and any actions from our local developmental licensee business partners were made independently without McDonald’s consent or approval.
“Our hearts are with all of the communities and families impacted by this crisis. We abhor violence of any kind and firmly stand against hate speech, and we will always proudly open our doors to everyone.
“We are doing everything we can to ensure the safety of our people in the region while supporting the communities where we operate.”
The JC has contacted West Midlands Police for comment.
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