Trial date set for Palestine protest organisers accused of public order offences
Benjamin Jamal, 61, of Kingston upon Thames, and Christopher Nineham, 63, of Bow, are both accused over the protest held in central London on January 18, which saw 77 people arrested in total.
The Metropolitan Police alleged that some protesters tried to breach conditions imposed on the protest by marching out of Whitehall.
Jamal, who is the director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), is facing offences including inciting people to fail to comply with protest conditions. Nineham is vice chair of the Stop the War Coalition.
Both defendants appeared in the dock and spoke only to confirm their names and dates of birth during a hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Monday.
District Judge Minhas granted the defendants unconditional bail and fixed a trial date of February 23 next year at the same court, with a time estimate of six days.
The judge said Jamal and Nineham would be allowed to give evidence during the trial.
Ten other people were charged by police for offences relating to the same demonstration, which also saw former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and MP John McDonnell voluntarily interviewed by the force.
Owen Greenhall, defending Jamal, told the court that Jamal and Nineham's trial had been identified as 'the lead trial' of all the related cases, with the others pushed back as a result.
The judge said: 'Each case will be determined on a case-by-case basis.'
A group of pro-Palestinian supporters gathered outside the court chanting and waving flags ahead of the hearing.
Several counter-protesters also appeared carrying Israeli flags and holding signs that read 'Defend protest for all', and were subsequently blocked off from the larger crowd by police officers.
Speaking on stage outside the court before the hearing, Nineham said the defendants were 'very, very confident that in the end, we will get justice.'
He said: 'The proscriptions, the arrests, the mounting campaign against the movement are clearly designed to intimidate us and to divide us, and they have, of course, attacked our marches and our protests from the very start of this campaign.
'Once again, we are here to say that we stand united and we stand defiant, and I think it's important to recognise that the attempts to shut the movement down are backfiring.'
In a statement shared ahead of the hearing, the PSC said the charges should never have been brought against Jamal and Nineham and were 'a political attack designed to suppress solidarity with the Palestinian people'.
'It is outrageous that Chris and Ben, their families and friends will be left with this threat of criminal charges hanging over them, possibly for many more months,' the statement added.
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