THE BENGALI YOUTH OF TOWER HAMLETS SCORE THE FIRST VICTORY FOR OUR MOVEMENT AGAINST THE STARMER GOVERNMENT & THEIR PARTNERS – THE METROPOLITAN POLICE!
ZERO TOLERANCE for Racist police harassment & brutality
Jail the Racist Police Thugs – the only Justice for Tower Hamlets’ Community & Youth
Extend the victory we won on Friday night – When the Police Attack, Don’t Walk on By! Stand up for Our Rights
Defend, Expand & Unite the Mass Movements for a Free Palestine, Immigrant & Refugee Rights & Workers’ Rights
No to Imperialist Wars! No to Genocide!
JOIN THE MARCH FOR PALESTINE THROUGH OUR COMMUNITY
Saturday 20th July 2024 Tower Hamlets
Join MFJ contingent in front of the Town Hall, opposite Whitechapel Station at *11am*. March to PSC demo at Barclays Bank then March for Palestine through our Community.
16/07/2024
Our victory came at 4.30AM on Saturday, 13th July. Hundreds of Bangladeshi youth, members of Tower Hamlets’ Muslim community and campaigners against the war & genocide in Palestine had stayed there all night, blockading Bethnal Green police station. Our community was under attack. The movement was under attack. We knew that the brutal, public police attack on Waseem Yusaf, in the heart of Whitechapel, had been an attack on all of us – and at 4.30am we won our immediate goal. Waseem was released without any charge.
Waseem is a public supporter of the pro-Palestinian movement, which is backed by tens of thousands of people in Tower Hamlets and millions of people nationally. On the previous afternoon he had been driving on the main road through Whitechapel with a Palestinian flag in the car and wearing a pro-Palestine shirt. He was stopped by the Metropolitan Police, dragged from the car, viciously beaten up by the police, and arrested.
Many community members did the right thing, deciding ‘don’t walk on by’ when the police attack our community. They stopped and tried to get closer, but were held by other police officers held them. One community member was able to record the attack and post it on social media, and from there it was widely circulated. Their action played a vital part in the victory. There is no need to call for suspension or an “independent investigation.” That video confirms their guilt. They must be jailed for their crime.
A political attack by the police
The police attack on Waseem was a political attack – a deliberate show of force in the heart of one of the biggest Muslim communities in London. It was just a week after the Labour Party’s election victory, a clear sign that very little had changed. In the same period, politically motivated attacks and shut-downs have continued against pro-Palestine action by university students – including at Queen Mary’s University in Tower Hamlets. Some student protesters have been suspended or expelled, and some Muslim students from other countries are threatened with deportation.
The victory in Tower Hamlet must be defended by the same collective action that won it. That method must be spread to all parts of the country and all sections of the growing mass struggles – the mass movement against the genocide in Gaza and the West Bank, the immigrant & refugee rights struggle, the workers’ strikes and the student campaigns.
The Labour Party fears the Mass Movement.
The Labour Party is in government with a large majority of MPs, but this comes after one of its worst elections ever. They are already unpopular, and their crisis could come sooner than it took the Tories.
Under Keir Starmer’s leadership, the Labour Party did not oppose the Tories’ racist, anti-migrant and anti-Muslim policies, and it supported Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza. Labour claims that it will make the racist policies more efficient & effective. That is clear from the comments that Starmer and other ministers have made about deporting more Bangladeshi people and the racist, anti-immigrant slant of their campaign.
Labour is desperate to shut down our mass movement because it fears our power and it fears what we have achieved – the hundreds of youth who were at Bethnal Green police station to win Waseem’s freedom, the thousands of people who have mobilised to stop deportations, a mass strike movement that had huge public support, and the world’s biggest and most frequent demonstrations for a Free Palestine, outside of Palestine itself. As a result, the majority of the British population support or sympathise with the Palestinian people.
We must Fight to Win
The youth who were the real strength at the blockade of Bethnal Green police station and the women (mostly young) who have been the most dynamic force on the demonstrations for a Free Palestinian are the vital forces in this struggle. You will get ‘experienced’ advisors telling you about ‘correct’ procedures, legal processes, approaches to the Labour Party etc. Treat them with scepticism; and whether the advice is useful or not, always remember how the fight to release Waseem was won.
Always remember that our real power is on the streets and in our communities, and that action speaks louder than words.
Our power is when we are on the streets