‘You should all be ashamed’: Protesters direct fury at councillors as they interrupt meeting with calls for Gaza ceasefire
The Camden Council meeting last night
A protest in support of Gaza erupted during a Camden Council meeting last night.
Speaker Nazma Rahman had just started the proceedings when protesters shouted from the public gallery.
They called for a “ceasefire now”, saying 11,000 children have died in Gaza and that councillors should “all be ashamed”.
Council leader Georgia Gould, who has returned from maternity leave, spoke amid chanting from the gallery, saying it was “important to respond to the huge pain caused in our communities”.
“The humanitarian situation in Gaza is heartbreaking and we all hope for a ceasefire,” she said.
. @CamdenCouncil
shut down until we have peace ! CEASEFIRE NOW – BLOOD ON ALL YOUR CAREERIST HANDS ! We will be rid of all you genociders , we will win. #CeasefireNOW #GazaGenocide pic.twitter.com/S65GkD6EIX— Toulev noir (@toulevnoir) January 29, 2024
After urging members of the public to stay quiet, Cllr Rahman adjourned the meeting for 15 minutes.
Cllr Gould continued after business resumed: “I didn’t get to say everything, but what is happening in Israel and Gaza is causing pain for all of us in our community.
“Everyone who is a human being is feeling that pain, but the events are not here.”
She said the borough is seeing a “huge rise” in hate crime in “both communities”.
“We have a responsibility to work against hate crime,” she said.
Cllr Gould described the situation as a “fast-moving, complex, and tragic conflict”.