London film premiere disrupted by pro-Palestine protest
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Starr Thomas, a 20-year-old demonstrator, is shown in footage released by the Youth Demand group on X carrying a Palestinian flag and demanding Britain end its arms exports to the Israeli occupation.
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Starr Thomas protesting at the opening of We Live in Time in London on October 17, 2024 (Social media)
Pro-Palestine demonstrators disrupted English and American actor Andrew Garfield's film screening in London on Thursday, demanding a weapons embargo against "Israel."
The incident occurred at the London Film Festival at a showing of the film We Live in Time, when a pro-Palestine activist urged the British government to end its arms supplies to the Israeli occupation.
Starr Thomas, a 20-year-old demonstrator, is shown in footage released by the Youth Demand group on X carrying a Palestinian flag and shouting, "This is not normal... babies are being blown to pieces, and the UK government is funding it."
❝This is not normal ... babies are being blown to pieces and the UK government is funding it❞
— Anadolu English (@anadoluagency) October 18, 2024
Pro-Palestine protesters disrupted English and American actor Andrew Garfield's film premiere in London, calling for an arms embargo on Israel https://t.co/aAdW8IePNg pic.twitter.com/pSCgzwfS7E
She demanded an urgent embargo against "Israel," promising to "keep standing up for what is right."
Recalling the Palestinian boy killed alive in an Israeli attack on a Gaza tent camp last week, the demonstrator stated that he would have turned 20 but was burned alive while wearing an IV drip in his arm.
Thomas expressed in a statement that the only path to justice is "through direct action so I will continue putting my body on the line and using my voice. We cannot have business as usual during a genocide."
She accused the government of "facilitating genocide," saying she refuses to follow the norms of a state that "profits off of mass death and stays silent while babies are blown to pieces."
The United Kingdom has suspended certain arms sales to "Israel", a move critics saw as insufficient, as the US continues to fly spy planes over Gaza and passing intelligence to "Israel", while also sending other arms. Both the US and UK have also assisted "Israel" in intercepting Iranian ballistic missiles earlier this month.
50 UK MPs urge sanctioning 'Israel' over ‘crimes against humanity'
50 members of the British Parliament are urging sanctions against the Israeli regime for its “crimes against humanity.”
The lawmakers, representing seven political parties, supported a motion on this issue on Tuesday.
The Early Day Motion (EDM), introduced by MP Richard Burgon, called on the government to impose sanctions on "Israel" due to its ongoing violations of international law in Palestine.
According to the lawmaker, "Israel" has carried out war crimes and violated international law for over a year, adding, "We need real action from political leaders- not just words," in order to force the occupation to end its actions.
Burgon explained that this also means "imposing sanctions on Israel, as the UN General Assembly recently called for.”
The Independent Alliance of MPs—consisting of Jeremy Corbyn, Shockat Adam, Adnan Hussain, Ayoub Khan, and Iqbal Mohamed—criticized the UK government for its complicity in "Israel's" actions.
In an urgent letter to Foreign Secretary David Lammy, the Alliance questioned whether the government truly opposes genocide.
The letter condemned the new Labour leadership for its “100 days of complicity in crimes against humanity" and expressed “disgust over the government’s complicity in one of the greatest crimes in our lifetime.”
The letter followed the horrific aggression by the IOF in which Palestinian refugees were burned alive after an attack on their tent camp. The letter detailed the "unimaginable pain and suffering" of the Palestinians as they experienced their last minutes.
It also detailed how Israeli airstrikes targeted a school where 22 people who were awaiting polio vaccines were killed.
