Westminster Magistrates Court on Thursday saw a determined protest by the Palestine movement in defence of Chris Nineham and our right to protest, reports Lucy Nichols

On Thursday, Chris Nineham appeared before Westminster Magistrates Court for his first hearing following his arrest at the Palestine national demonstration on 18 January. Hundreds of supporters gathered outside the court for a rally to show solidarity with Chris, including actors Khalid Abdulla and Juliet Stevenson, and MPs Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell, who all spoke to the rally.

Lindsey German, the convenor of the Stop the War Coalition also spoke:

‘Protest is under attack in this country, particularly protest that stands for justice, equality and freedom … This is about Chris, but it is also about that wider right. People have fought for the right to protest for hundreds of years. We would never have had the right for women to vote, for working-class people to vote, to join trade unions … if we hadn’t protested and fought time and time again.’

Unite, Unison, UCU and Jewish Voice for Peace members were also in attendance, and the protest was too big to fit in the designated fenced-off area. There was also lots of support from passing cars, buses and pedestrians.

There was a disproportionate police presence at the rally, with police lined up outside the court and more in vans parked behind the court.

Flowers were handed out to protesters, to be laid at the foot of Stop the War’s ‘Defend the Right to Protest’ banner – this because the delegation from the demonstration on 18 January were never allowed to lay flowers outside the BBC, as had been the plan.

The arrest of Chris Nineham and a large number of others on 18 January was a serious escalation by the state, and threatens the right to protest more generally. It is also a clear attempt to shut down the Palestine movement, at a time when Netanyahu is preparing to end the ceasefire in Gaza and Trump is proposing to ethnically cleanse it entirely.

The movement remains defiant despite the threats from the police and isn’t going anywhere: Thursday was also a Workplace Day of Action for Palestine, with thousands of activists and trade unionists walking out of workplaces in solidarity with Palestine and to defend protest rights.

There have already been a number of major victories for the Palestine protesters, with the ousting of Suella Braverman, but also the election of five independent MPs and, more recently, the successful divestment campaigns at Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest councils.

Keir Starmer seems determined to ignore the question of Palestine as much as possible, and his lukewarm statement denouncing Donald Trump probably would’ve been even weaker if he weren’t under so much pressure from the Palestine protests.

The new crackdown from the state proves the power of our movement, which mobilised 175,000 to march on the US Embassy on Saturday, and will be marching again on the next national demonstration on 15 March, to fight back against Donald Trump’s genocidal racism, and to defend the right to protest.