Actor Khalid Abdalla has been ordered to attend a police interview following a pro-Palestine protest earlier this year.
Abdalla, who played Dodi Fayed in the hit Netflix series The Crown, told his social media followers that he had received a letter from the Metropolitan Police to attend a “formal interview” in relation to Palestine Solidarity Campaign protest held in January, adding “ it remains to be seen if this will result in charges”.
The 44-year-old, who rose to fame after starring in the award-winning film United 93, claimed “the right to protest is under attack in this country”.
In a statement on his Instagram page, he wrote: “I’ve expressed my feelings on the experience of that day on previous posts available online.
“The right to protest is under attack in this country and it requires us all to defend it.”
Abdalla, who also starred in The Kite Runner and The Day of the Jackal, is one of Hollywood’s most outspoken actors on the Gaza-Israel war.
He has publicly called for a permanent ceasefire and has attended several pro-Palestine rallies since the conflict began on October 7, 2023. This includes the one on January 18 he will be interviewed about.
Abdalla also signed the Artists for Palestine UK open letter to the BBC in February criticising the broadcaster’s decision to pull a documentary about children’s lives in Gaza after it discovered its 13-year-old narrator was the son of a Hamas official.
He is not the first public figure to be interviewed by police over a pro-Palestine demonstration.
MPs Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell have already been questioned by police officers.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said at the time: "Two men aged 75 and 73 who attended voluntary interviews following the protest have been released pending further investigations."
A static rally involving several thousand people took place in Whitehall after police blocked plans for the march to be held from Portland Place, near the BBC headquarters.
Police said those involved had been made aware that the protest should remain around the area of Whitehall.
But despite this, police said “a large group made its way from Whitehall into Trafalgar Square and in some cases attempted to go further.”
It was a moment to hold in my soul, not just a series of images. And to my children, I said every time you see me touch my heart it is also for you. It is from parenthood and childhood that this moment comes. We cannot have another generation of this violence and this injustice.… pic.twitter.com/W07b4IqWMw
— Khalid Abdalla (@khalidabdalla) December 7, 2023
Police said that a number of people in that group had been arrested on suspicion of breaching the conditions and that so far, 21 had been charged.
The Palestine Coalition said “what is claimed by police as justification for this massive overreach of their powers” is a “complete misrepresentation of what took place, not just on the day but beforehand.”
They said in a statement: “We demand that the Metropolitan Police halt any prosecutions or proceedings against those involved in this entirely peaceful protest.”
Letters have also been issued to Stop the War Coalition officers Lindsey German, Alex Kenny and Andrew Murray, CND General Secretary Sophie Bolt and Friends of Al-Aqsa Chair, Ismail Patel, according to the group.
