The Met Police has arrested a peaceful protester at a demo organised by the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN) this evening. The protest was aimed at a Zionist restaurant allegedly staffed and run by participants in Israel’s genocide. The reported pretext for the arrest was that the victim had said ‘intifada’ — which means ‘shaking off the chains’, or ‘uprising’ in Arabic:

URGENT

Arrest made at @IJAN_Network peaceful protest in North London – reportedly because the individual said ‘intifada’. pic.twitter.com/yZnzwpmlvB

— Canary (@TheCanaryUK) January 9, 2026

The protest organisers have called for urgent support at Hammersmith police station.

The Starmer regime has declared the term “globalise the intifada” to be hate speech — but not, at least so far, the word intifada in isolation. However, police have frequently over-reached to harass and criminalise protesters. For example, police have used Starmer’s proscription of the group ‘Palestine Action’ to threaten protesters with arrest just for using the word ‘Palestine’ — even though a judge had already ruled twice that such speech is entirely lawful.

The Starmer regime is criminalising even the Arabic language to protect Israel and its interests. More images and footage will follow later this evening.

Featured image via the Canary

By Skwawkbox

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