PRO-PALESTINE activists will appeal a court ruling that they trespassed in a shopping centre then failed to follow police orders to leave.
Mick Napier and Jim Watson were part of a demonstration at the Braehead shopping complex outside Glasgow in September 2014.
Napier was found guilty of aggravated trespass and of failing to comply with police direction to leave at Glasgow Sheriff Court on Friday. Co-accused Jim Watson was found guilty of failing to leave.
Glasgow Friends of Israel (GFI) welcomed the verdict. Chairman Sammy Stein said: “The conviction has opened a window onto the hateful and intimidatory tactics used routinely in Scotland by so-called pro-Palestinian campaigners. The guilty verdict is also most welcome and sets an extremely helpful precedent for the police as they seek to protect people from intimidation."
Chair of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Sofiah MacLeod, confirmed the two men would appeal the convictions.
She said: “The protest took place in 2014, just weeks after the end of Israel's attack on Gaza which killed over 2200 Palestinians including 556 children. Today, Palestinians are mourning the loss of family members during the third anniversary of the 51-day attack. Thousands remain displaced, around 900 – a third of them children – sustained some form of permanent disability and over 160,000 children are in need of psychosocial support.”
Braehead General Manager Gary Turnbull, said a shopping centre is “not an appropriate place for protests”.
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