Peter Leary
833 posts
@PeterLeary
Wrote a book about the Irish border before it was famous. Work at the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC). Any tweets are personal.
I have covered innumerable protests as a journalist over the years and they all have one thing in common irrespective of cause or political hue - the organisers always grossly exaggerate the turnout. This Guardian articles quotes organisers saying 500K people attended this march, the police say 50K. There's a hell of a difference between 50K and 500K. So who's telling the truth? Fortunately, there is a simple tool for counting crowds called MapChecking. Looking at the pictures, it appears that the demonstrators filled Trafalgar Square with the stage in front of Nelson's Column. This would generously suggest a crowd of about 35,000 and that's even including the fountains as part of the area covered by the crowd. I'm open to correction on this if anybody can provide visual evidence to discount this, but journalists should always use this tool or something similar before taking the word of any protest organiser. theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/m…
🚨 Hands Off Iran 🚨 ‼️ Demonstrate ‼️ 🗓️ Sat 7 March ⏰ Noon 📍 Central London (location TBC) #NoWarOnIran #StopTrumpsWars
A Palestine Action-linked hunger striker has been hospitalised for a sixth time after a medical test showed unusual heart activity, an advocacy group has said, 59 days after he began refusing food to protest his now 14-month-long pre-trial detention. Kamran Ahmed, who is jailed at HMP Pentonville, is at imminent risk of death and permanent brain and organ damage, according to Prisoners for Palestine. The Labour government has ignored repeated pleas by hunger strikers’ lawyers and families to meet with officials in order to address inmates’ demands. Another hunger striker, Heba Muraisi, has gone 66 days without food and has been suffering from uncontrollable muscle spasms, which medical experts say could indicate neurological damage. A third Palestine Action-associated prisoner, Teuta Hoxha, ended her hunger strike on Tuesday, after 58 days. She may be suffering from complications related to refeeding syndrome, a dangerous condition that can occur when starving people begin eating again. Your Party MP Zarah Sultana said that all three inmates could die at any moment. “In 1981, two of the ten IRA hunger strikers in British prisons died before reaching day 59. Two more died before day 61, and by day 73, all ten had passed away,” she said in a statement. Six of the eight inmates who have refused food in recent months have now paused their strikes. They have all been held well in excess of the standard 182-day pre-trial custody limit. As well as immediate bail, the hunger strikers are demanding that prison officials stop censoring their communications, that the government reverse the terror designation of Palestine Action and for the UK premises of Israeli weapons firm Elbit Systems to be shut down. They are being held over alleged involvement in break-ins at factories owned by Elbit and at RAF Brize Norton. All deny the charges. “They should not be in prison at all,” Sultana said. “They pose no threat to the public, have been held well beyond the standard 182-day pre-trial custody limit, and there is no justification for denying them bail. This is a political choice.”
'So you will share the dismay of many that the BBC described it as "largely unarmed and popular"?' @NickFerrariLBC asks Labour's Jess Phillips if she thinks 'intifada has overtones of violence', as those who call for it to be 'globalised' now face arrest.
