Anti-Israel demonstrators at London’s O2 arena made calls to “globalise the Intifada” in a demonstration against a man being allegedly turned away from the venue for wearing a pro-Gaza t-shirt.
“Globalise the Intifada,” demonstrators shouted, chanting “Intifada, Intifada” and banging drums.
“We don’t want no two states, we want 1948” a handful of protesters chanted with a megaphone on Sunday.
The demonstration appears to have been in response to an incident last week when security at the arena refused entry to a man who had tickets to watch comedian, Peter Kay, and was wearing a t-shirt with the slogan “free Gaza”.
The 'free Gaza' t-shirt apparently banned from the arena prompted the protest (Photo: TikTok)[Missing Credit]
On Sunday, protesters arrived at the shopping centre attached to the arena and draped an enormous Palestinian flag down the stairs, similar to the one hung in Stratford’s Westfield shopping centre last month.
A video of the protest shared on TikTok claimed the protest was a "response to the O2 refusing entry to a man wearing a free Gaza t-shirt". Another video stated: “Moral citizens take over the O2 with a large Palestinian flag with a simple message. We will not be intimidated, not until we’re liberated.
“Palestine will be liberated, Palestine will live forever, the flag of justice, the flag of freedom is flying in every city, in every country, in every continent.
“The people united will never be defeated. There is only one solution intifada revolution.”
The phrase, “globalise the Intifada” is often interpreted as a reference to periods of Palestinian violence against Israel in the late 1980s and from 2000.
The Intifadas saw Palestinian terrorists commit suicide bombings, shootings and stabbings in Israel, resulting in over 1,000 deaths.
According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the slogan is “generally understood as a call for indiscriminate violence against Israel, and potentially against Jews and Jewish institutions worldwide.”
It is often chanted at anti-Israel protests in London.
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A spokesperson for the Met Police said the incident was dealt with by security at the O2 and police did not attend the scene.
The O2 has been approached for comment.
The protest comes amid rising tensions around arena concerts.
Three of Taylor Swift's concerts in Vienna were cancelled after two suspects were arrested for allegedly plotting a terror attack. One of the suspects pledged allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State in July according to local reports.
