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A pro-Palestine protest that took place ahead of a children’s theatre show in London has sparked fury from parents who say it left their children terrified.
Families with young children were settling in to enjoy the performance at New Wimbledon Theatre when members of the group “Parents for Palestine” entered the venue.
The unexpected interruption left children “crying their eyes out” as protestors ran onto the stage and unfurled a banner detailing their cause.
Parents in attendance have now hit out at the group, who were escorted from the theatre, for protesting in an inappropriate location.
One parent of an autistic child said the protest had a particularly negative effect on her daughter during what was meant to be an enjoyable experience.
The parent, identified only as Rose by the MailOnline, said: “We’re sitting there getting ready for the show and then there’s this lady with a mask over her face and then she starts chanting.
“And then after that I see bug banner drops from the top of the theatre and then from that everything is just disrupted.
“There are parents with their children next to me and their kids are crying their eyes out cause it’s quite scary.”
The concerned parent, who admitted to experiencing anxiety during the protest, added: “You can do peaceful protest but this isn’t the way. Why would you do this at a kids’ show?
“The children do not need to know this, this is not an appropriate time.”
Rose said that the performance went ahead despite the initial interruption.
“Two wrongs don’t make a right. What’s happening in Palestine is very sad yes but then you don’t come to a children’s show and do that,” she said.
“You have come to upset children and for what? You’re not going to change anything because the children don’t understand.”
According to the parent, theatregoers contacted the police about the protest and said it resulted in “a large police presence” outside.
Parents for Palestine told The Independent: “This was a brief and peaceful protest, carried out by parents, carers and their children, asking the Science Museum to drop its sponsorship deal with Adani Green Energy, a subsidiary of the Adani Group.”
They subsequently accused the group of supplying arms to Israel.
The Metropolitan Police told The Independent: “Police were called at about 16:35hrs on Tuesday, 6 August to reports of a small protest on The Broadway, SW19.
“Officers attended. The group dispersed approximately 30 minutes later. There were no arrests.”
A Twitter/X user wrote: “Presumed it was an Israeli theatre company but it’s not. If this is what it looks like, this needs stamping out right now – we cannot be having this.”
The New Wimbledon Theatre told The Independent: “Shortly before yesterday afternoon’s performance of Science Museum: The Live Stage Show at the New Wimbledon Theatre, several ticket holders staged a non violent protest which caused disruption and a delay to the start of the show.
“Police attended and stayed throughout the performance, which passed without further incident. We would like to thank the theatre’s front of house team and police for their calm professionalism, and for the rest of the audience for their patience and understanding.”
A Science Museum spokesperson said: “This engaging family show aims to ignite the curiosity of children through the wonders of science and it’s a shame for the families who attended that protestors disrupted this performance at the New Wimbledon Theatre.”
The Independent has reached out to Adani Group for comment.
The protest comes after a separate pro-Palestine protest, which took place ahead of a London performance of Fiddler on the Roof on Monday.
It similarly sparked fury from theatregoers, who described the actions of the protestors in a nearby café as antisemitic as it is a play about Jewish cultural traditions and not Israel.
