News | Sunday, 11 January 2009

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Police stopped slogans because ‘they don’t understand Arabic’

Matthew Vella
A bizarre statement issued by the Police yesterday admitted that police officers stopped protestors at a pro-Palestine march from chanting in Arabic, because they “could only understand the words ‘USA’ and ‘Israel’.”
A spokesperson said police “only took routine security measures” to prevent incidents that may have arisen due to the protest, held in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, which was organised by Moviment Graffitti, on 30 December.
Gaza has been under incessant attack by the Israeli Defence Forces for two weeks now after a truce with Israel, which occupies the Gaza strip, came to an end when Hamas fired rockets into Israel.
The police’s questionable measures included stopping demonstrators from chanting certain slogans, and ordering the protest not to stop outside a Republic Street establishment with Jewish connections.
The police spokesperson said slogans in Arabic were being chanted but police officers present “could only understand the words ‘USA’ and ‘Israel’.”
When police approached an organiser requesting what was being chanted, the organiser replied she was not conversant in Arabic. “The Police informed her that according to law, no provocative and offensive statements or slogans could be chanted,” the spokesperson said – even though it seems the officers were not aware of what they were actually censoring.
As reported by the newspapers the day after, demonstrators shouting slogans such as ‘Down with the USA’ and ‘Down with Israel’ were stopped by the police officers on duty.
The police statement did not mention whether the slogans were inciting to racial hatred or violence, which would be punishable at law.
A source present at the march remarked that other protests organised by right-wing groups against immigrants never attracted such censorship from the police force. “Those protests continued without as much as one single protest from the police, despite the inflammatory content of the slogans and speeches. On the other hand, the mere mention of the USA and Israel elicited their concern almost immediately.”
The source added that a police officer was heard warning one of the organisers that “someone from the embassy” – without specifying who the person was or which embassy – was present at the march.
A spokesperson for Moviment Graffitti said the group cooperated with the police because it did not want the march to be stopped by the authorities over a slogan, and it asked demonstrators not to proceed with the slogans.
The protestors were also told by police not to stop outside a shop in Republic Street, allegedly because its owners are Jewish.
Alex Sceberras Trigona, international secretary for the Labour party, was also present for the protest march.
“Someone emerged from the shop to challenge Alex Sceberras Trigona over why he was supporting the protest,” the source said.
The Police defended its actions to stop the protestors from chanting “provocative” slogans, saying the march continued without any incidents whatsoever.
The spokesperson said police officers did their duty and that it was never their intention to stop participants from continuing with the activity “or to interfere in their right of expressing themselves as long as everything was done in accordance with domestic law.”

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