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"Supporters of pro-Palestine activists Chris Nineham, vice‑chair of Stop the War, and Ben Jamal, director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, rallied in London on Wednesday after the pair were found guilty of breaching protest rules at Westminster Magistrates' Court. Footage shows crowds gathering outside the courthouse, chanting slogans and holding placards reading 'Stop this waste of court time' and 'Drop the charges'. MPs John McDonnell and Jeremy Corbyn also offered their support as Nineham and Jamal arrived for the hearing. "This is a travesty of justice. We will be appealing against it, but it's designed to frighten people and to repress them, and the best response we give to that is to refuse to be silenced and to refuse to be chilled. These are deeply pernicious, so today's judgment is another milestone in the repression of the right to protest in this country," Jamal said. "I think there's an authoritarian trend, obviously not just in Britain, but around the world. I think this is linked to the increasing sense that the government and the politicians are not in touch with people. There's a sense that they're illegitimate, they're out of touch, and their way of responding is by trying to clamp down on protest. So we're not gonna let them do that," added Nineham. The convictions follow police restrictions on the January 18 march near BBC headquarters. Jamal and Nineham deny wrongdoing and plan to appeal, calling the verdict 'a dark day for civil liberties'. Jamal received an 18-month conditional discharge and Nineham a 12-month conditional discharge for breaches of the Public Order Act, with both facing legal costs of £7,500 ($9,100) each. Since the truce on October 10, 2025, Palestinian authorities say Israeli forces have repeatedly violated the agreement, causing 704 deaths and at least 1,900 injuries, though Israel disputes these figures."
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