Newcastle’s council leader called for a ceasefire in Gaza on Wednesday night, as security officers blocked citizens from entering the civic centre due to “alarm” over sustained pro-Palestine protests.
Residents hoping to attend Wednesday evening’s full meeting of Newcastle City Council were turned away at the door, as a small group of demonstrators gathered outside the civic centre.
Local authority officials said the decision to deny access to residents coming to see the city’s democracy in action was taken “reluctantly”, after councillors were evacuated from two meetings earlier this year due to similar pro-Palestine chanting from the council chamber’s public gallery.
Around two dozen people, some of whom waved Palestinian flags, staged a protest in the civic centre’s car park on Wednesday – a smaller demonstration than had been witnessed previously.
In the meeting itself, one activist asked a question calling on the council to back a ceasefire in Gaza and act to ensure the safety of Palestinians and others on Tyneside left fearful of a “startling rise” in racist and Islamophobic incidents following the recent far right riots.
Campaigner Hollie Mildenhall told city politicians that the Gaza death toll now topped 40,000 and complained that there had been “no representation from our local councillors”.
The Labour-run council was presented with a petition signed by more than 4,000 people last December which asked the authority to speak out in support of an immediate ceasefire, which it stopped short of doing at the time.
Ms Mildenhall called on the council to now also petition the UK Government to end all arms sales to Israel, with foreign secretary David Lammy confirming the suspension of 30 out of 350 arms export licences this week.
City council leader Nick Kemp replied that the authority had “always called for peace in Gaza and condemned the actions of both the Israeli government and Hamas” and that its position was now to “back your call for an immediate ceasefire”.
The Labour councillor said the council would also support the “further suspension of arms identified as being used to commit war crimes”.
He also spoke of how Newcastle “stood proud as a city that would not let those seeking to divide us to win” in the face of the far right riots this summer but added that the “confidence of our communities has been damaged and those wounds will take time to heal”.
Addressing the closure of the public gallery, a Newcastle City Council spokesperson said: “The transparency of the democratic process is very important, and we will do everything we can to accommodate residents attending our public meetings.
“There have been incursions recently into the Civic Centre by demonstrators which has caused alarm. In light of this we have taken the decision, albeit reluctantly, to protect the health and safety of members and other members of the public in the building by closing the public gallery for our council meeting this month.
“As with every meeting of full council, proceedings will be live streamed on our website. We will also work with the police to ensure any protest activity at the Civic Centre is safely facilitated.
“We sincerely hope that this will be a one-off but will keep the situation under review until tensions ease.”
