Peaceful protest should not be “criminalised”, the Northern Ireland Assembly has heard.
Stormont Opposition Leader Matthew O’Toole was speaking following the arrest of two protesters in Belfast on Saturday.
Sue Pentel, a high-profile campaigner against Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip, was one of two women detained by officers on suspicion of criminal damage.
Videos circulated online of the arrest of the 72-year-old indicate the alleged offence related to the placing of stickers on a bank’s ATM machine.
Ms Pentel and the other woman who was arrested, who is in her 50s, were released later on Saturday pending a report to Northern Ireland’s Public Prosecution Service (PPS).
Mr O’Toole mentioned the arrests during Members’ Statements in the Assembly on Tuesday morning.
However, Stormont Speaker Edwin Poots warned MLAs against “second-guessing” police.
First Minister Michelle O’Neill sent “solidarity” to both those arrested in Belfast, and Liam O hAnnaidh from the Irish rap group Kneecap who has been charged by police in London with a terror offence over the alleged display of a Hezbollah flag at a gig in November last year.
Speaking in response to a question from People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll during questions for the Executive Office, Ms O’Neill said: “Can I firstly send solidarity to both parties that you refer to.
“I think that highlighting genocide, highlighting the inhumane slaughter of defenceless citizens, is not a crime.
“That’s certainly my view, and I send solidarity to all those protests and calling for an end to the genocide in Palestine.
“I think that anybody that goes out to raise their voice, rightly so in my opinion, in terms of calling for an end to the genocide in Palestine, is doing a good thing because the international community is far too silent.”
Earlier Mr O’Toole told MLAs: “It’s important to say there is no more profound right in a democracy than peaceful protest.
“Over the weekend we saw dozens more innocent people lose their lives in Gaza as a result of the bombardment by the Netanyahu regime. We are witnessing an ongoing genocide in Gaza.
“People from all over this region, from all backgrounds, all ages, all perspectives are completely, frankly, in disbelief at what they see on their screens. They want some form of registering protest, dissent and challenging what is happening in the Middle East.
“One means is through peaceful protest.
“One of the people who was arrested is a woman named Sue Pentel, who is in her 70s. She also just happens to be Jewish. She will be known to people here because she is often here, peacefully and respectfully engaging with MLAs on her views in relation to the Middle East.”
He went on: “I understand that the PSNI has a difficult job to do.
“I don’t trivialise the fact that in fast-moving situations sometimes there are judgments that have to be made by police officers, but I don’t think anybody, certainly not the dozens and dozens of my constituents who are, frankly, appalled by what’s happening in Gaza, who have emailed me in the last few days to say ‘What the hell is going on in our society whenever a peaceful protest is met with arrests of pensioners?’
“Peaceful protest in Belfast city centre, even if it is a minor convenience, is not something which should be criminalised.
“That is legitimate peaceful protest and, yes, I respect that police officers have a job to do in all these circumstances, but let’s please be proportionate and respect the rights of ordinary people to register dissent and protest.”
Mr Poots urged caution on comments around live investigations: “I just want to make it very clear that the police have a role to do, and it’s not our place to be second-guessing that role.
“There are a number of matters of the day and urgent questions that were put in that related to different events that have taken place, questioning police, and I think that we need to be very, very careful whenever there is a live investigation.
“This hasn’t got to the stage of there being charges, and may never get to that stage, but there is a live investigation and it’s not our role in this House to influence police decisions on investigations.
“They have to go through their course, it goes to the PPS, there is a due process to happen there, and it’s not for us to seek to influence that.
“I just caution Members on that issue.”
