Peaceful Protest Against Israel's Genocide Met with Police Repression
Image: IOL
By Dr Imraan Buccus
On Sunday afternoon, during the Bafana Bafana vs. Malawi match at Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria, five Red Card Israel activists were arrested for peacefully protesting against Israeli apartheid. The activists wore T-shirts bearing the Red Card Israel logo and held banners calling for the exclusion of Israeli sports teams from international competitions.
This was a peaceful protest, a protest fully protected by law as well as any basic sense of democratic decency. However, the police responded with aggression and openly authoritarian intent. According to eyewitness accounts, the police manhandled and pepper-sprayed the protestors, confiscated their banners and T-shirts, and detained four of them without justification. One of the activists who was arrested is 16 years old.
Usually, activists arrested during non-violent protests are kept in the holding cells of a police station and then given police bail. They are often released the same day or the following day. However, the detained Red Card Israel activists, now referred to as 'the Loftus Five', have been denied bai. The four adults have been taken to the Kgosi Mampuru prison and the teenager to Shoshanguve Prison. Their case has been postponed to May 19 for a further bail hearing.
Their lawyer asserts that the charges are unfounded and that the arrests represent a suppression of free speech and peaceful protest. The thuggish and authoritarian response to the protest by the police, the arrests, and the denial of bail have sparked outrage among progressive organisations around the country, including mass-based grassroots and working-class organisations, and steps are quickly being taken to build a solidarity network.
South Africa, more than any other country, should know that sport is always political. The global boycott against South African sport by the anti-apartheid movement was an effective weapon in the struggle against the racist regime. The arrest of the Loftus Four has not only sparked outrage but also reignited memories of past struggles where sport and resistance intertwined.
The 1981 Springbok tour of New Zealand was a high point of the boycott movement. Despite international condemnation, the New Zealand Rugby Union proceeded with the tour, triggering massive protests across the country. Over 150,000 people participated in more than 200 demonstrations, with activists arguing that allowing South Africa to compete on the international stage legitimised its apartheid regime. The protests were intense and sustained, including pitch invasions and clashes with police. One of the most dramatic moments came when activists stormed the rugby field during a game in Hamilton, forcing its cancellation.
At Eden Park in Auckland, protesters famously dropped bags of flour from a light aircraft onto the rugby field during the final game of the tour. The flour bombs, which burst in clouds of white across the pitch, became an iconic symbol of global resistance against apartheid.
Red Card Israel
Red Card Israel is an international movement that calls for the exclusion of Israeli sports teams from international competitions due to the state's violations of human rights and war crimes in Palestine. The idea for Red Card Israel emerged in the early 2010s, directly inspired by the international sports boycott against apartheid South Africa. Football, as the world's most popular sport, became a key focus, given its international visibility and its historical role in anti-apartheid activism. The campaign quickly won support from former anti-apartheid activists, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Like the sporting boycotts that played a crucial role in isolating apartheid South Africa, Red Card Israel asserts that Israel's participation in global sports normalises its occupation and the violent suppression of Palestinian rights. The campaign is part of a broader movement which seeks to apply non-violent pressure on Israel to comply with international law.
By targeting sports, Red Card Israel exposes the contradictions of international sports bodies that claim to uphold fairness and human rights while permitting a state long engaged in systematic oppression, and now perpetrating a genocide before the eyes of the world, to participate on the world stage.
Red Card Israel gained momentum through high-profile campaigns targeting FIFA, UEFA, and other major sports bodies. Activists have lobbied for Israel's suspension from international competitions, citing its violations of Article 3 of the FIFA Statutes, which obligates member associations to respect human rights and combat discrimination.
Global Solidarity
The protest action at Loftus Versveld on Sunday is part of an ongoing global movement by football fans, with the most famous actions being taken by Celtic FC fans in Glasgow. The club has a long left-wing tradition and in August 2016, during a Champions League qualifier against Israeli club Hapoel Be'er Sheva, Celtic fans waved Palestinian flags, resulting in an £8,619 fine from UEFA. In response, the Green Brigade, a Celtic supporters' group, launched a fundraising campaign that raised over £170,000 for Palestinian charities.
On October 25, 2023, during a UEFA Champions League match against Atlético Madrid at Celtic Park in Glasgow, Celtic FC fans displayed hundreds of Palestinian flags and banners reading 'Free Palestine' and 'Victory to the Resistance.' UEFA fined Celtic £15,200 for what it described as 'provocative messages of an offensive nature.'
Similarly, FC St. Pauli fans in Germany have consistently shown support for Palestine. Known for their leftist politics and anti-fascist principles, St. Pauli supporters have displayed banners and flags expressing solidarity with Palestinians during matches. These actions underscore a broader movement within global football fan communities to use the sport as a platform for political expression and human rights advocacy.
The activists from Red Card Israel who organised a peaceful protest at the game at Loftus Versfeld on Sunday were part of this global movement. They were also acting in the tradition of the anti-apartheid movement, and in line with the government's principled position on the genocide currently underway in Gaza. All this makes the response of the police to the protest at Loftus Versfeld particularly troubling, and the inaction by the government in response to the police action even more disturbing.
We have a systemic problem of police abuse in South Africa, and the state needs to intervene swiftly and decisively to ensure that the Loftus Five are treated fairly and that the right to protest is clearly affirmed and defended.
This is not the time for Cyril Ramaphosa to tell us that he is 'shocked'. The activists need to be released, and there needs to be an investigation into the conduct of the police, and the right to peaceful protest must be clearly affirmed.
* Dr Imraan Buccus is a political scientist and research fellow at ASRI.
** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL or Independent Media.
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