Protesters drape Westfield Stratford in colossal Palestinian flag

A huge Palestinian flag was draped down several floors of Westfield Stratford this weekend. A handful of protesters covered their faces and used loudspeakers to chant anti-Israel messages in the East London shopping centre, as the roughly 30ft flag dominated the central atrium of the centre. Demonstrators shouted, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and condemned the new Prime Minister with the chant, “Starmer, Starmer, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide.” Videos shared on social media suggest between eight and 12 demonstrators made their way into the shopping centre to demonstrate on Sunday, carrying the enormous flag and several other smaller flags. As the red, white, green and black flag was unfurled over a railing in the shop, the message, “#SavePalestine” could be made out. The flag was stolen into the shopping centre before it was unveiled across several floors of the shop (Photo: TikTok)[Missing Credit] A handful of security officers appeared to have been present as the giant flag was flown, and most shoppers passed by unperturbed by the massive flag, which spanned several floors of the shop. The protesters celebrated the action on social media, writing on TikTok, “I love living here.” Since October 7, protesters have attempted to target a string of shops inside Westfield, including Zara, H&M and Starbucks. During the Boxing Day sales last year, protesters poured into the shopping centre, protesting outside a branch of H&M, chanting “while you're shopping, bombs are dropping”, and swamping a Zara. The Westfield group was cofounded by Jewish Holocaust survivor and Australian-Israeli businessman, Sir Frank Lowy, who served in the IDF during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. The shopping giant was acquired by French company Unibail-Rodamco in 2018. Videos of the flag were widely shared on social media (Photo: TikTok)[Missing Credit] A spokesperson for the London shopping centre said: “Westfield London and Westfield Stratford City are busy family-centric destinations and to ensure a safe and inclusive environment for all our visitors, we do not facilitate protests within our centres. “On occasion, protestors will show up unexpectedly, however, they are advised immediately of our policy and politely asked to conclude the event and remove any visual materials. Our priority is to always manage the situation safely and peacefully and Sunday’s protest was dealt with in this manner by our in-house security team and the protesters left without incident.”

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