Barclay Primary in Leyton, east London, was forced to close early this week after it was reportedly threatened for telling a group of parents that children should not wear Palestinian signs and clothes to school.
On Thursday morning, dozens of protesters gathered outside the school with placards and flags to shout: "Barclay, shame on you" and "education is under attack".
LBC reported that the primary had been scheduled to stay open until the end of Friday, but closed early amid "escalating threats against staff and the school".
The row began when eight families received a letter on November 17 about children allegedly wearing Palestinian flags, badges and stickers during ‘Children in Need’ day last month.
The letter asked families to consider the school’s duty to Prevent and warned that “extremist or divisive comments” could lead to referrals to the government’s anti-terror intervention programme. It flagged the school’s parental code of conduct on the “demonstration of political beliefs” and asked parents to be “role models.”
London's Barclay Primary school forced to close by anti-Israel protestors. Unacceptable!
— Lee Harris (@addicted2newz) December 21, 2023
The mob is angry because Barclay Primary want to remain "apolitical", and doesn't want worldwide conflicts "brought into school".
I 100% agree with the school!pic.twitter.com/O8JFRmLd2k
In a statement on their website, Barclay Primary School said: "We have never reported anyone to Prevent at the school, and would not wish to do so, we are seeking to be transparent by making individuals aware of the school’s legal obligations.
“We believe we are acting firmly on the basis of the range of evidence at hand and to suggest otherwise is a distortion of the facts”
Protesters claimed that an eight-year-old pupil, whose mother is Palestinian, had been reprimanded for having a Palestinian flag on his coat. The rumour spread on TikTok where it was claimed that the boy had been "harassed and mentally traumatised by his teachers" for his heritage.
School bosses said there was "no evidence to support any allegations of bullying or misconduct".
The school's executive headteacher Aaron Wright said in a letter to parents on Monday: "Over the course of the weekend, a video was published on TikTok which has made and amplified a series of false and malicious allegations against Barclay Primary School and a Lion Academy Trust board member."
In their statement, the school trust said they "will not enter into further discussions on these matters given the threatening and completely unacceptable conduct being demonstrated.”
