Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Rachael Burford

Hundreds of pro-Palestine protesters picket Labour Gala in Westminster

Hundreds of pro-Palestine protesters picketed a Labour Gala where the shadow foreign secretary David Lammy received an award . 

Activists from London Palestine Action gathered outside the Park Plaza Hotel in Westminster over the party leadership’s refusal to call for a full ceasefire in Gaza

They shouted "scum" and "shameless" at guests entering the exclusive fundraising dinner on Tuesday night.

Mr Lammy picked up the shadow cabinet member of the year award at the SME4Labour event following the Rwanda Bill vote in the House of Commons. 

In a speech to guests he outlined what his priorities as foreign secretary would be if Labour won the next election. "We want to be in partnership with our friends in Europe.," he said.

"Under a Labour Government we will win back the trust of the global south...we won't be messing up our relationship with the United State. There is so much to do and all of that will mean growth and opportunity and partnership in a very unstable and troubled geopolitical environment."

Activists from London Palestine Action gathered outside the Park Plaza Hotel (Rachael Burford)

Sophie Malak from Haringey Palestine Action said: "As constituents of David Lammy in Tottenham, we demand that he calls for an immediate ceasefire [in Gaza].

"While we welcome his recent acknowledgement of the ‘intolerable’ scale of death and destruction in Gaza over the last two months, it is hypocritical: we remember his justification of the bombing of refugee camps just weeks ago."

"Lammy wants to become foreign secretary, but he is failing the people of Tottenham over this and many other issues.”

Labour has been split over whether to call for a full ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war as the death toll in Gaza reached an estimated 18,000 people and the humanitarian situation reached "catastrophic" levels, according to aid agencies. 

Israel launched a huge counter attack following Hamas’s brutal assault on the country on October 7 in which over a thousand people were massacred by the terror group.  

Nine Labour frontbenchers resigned last month over Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to call for a "humanitarian pause" rather than a full stop to hostilities. 

The party leadership has increased its criticism of Israel over its attacks on Palestinians in recent days. 

Over the weekend Mr Lammy, writing in the Observer, described the destruction in the besieged enclave as "intolerable" and said it was "totally unacceptable" for rightwing Israeli cabinet ministers to support illegal settlements in the West Bank.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.