Protesters picket Israeli-owned donut shop in London

By C ANAAN LIDOR JNS

A Black Friday protest march in London against Israel broke out into an unlicensed rally outside an Israeli-owned bakery, prompting a leader of British Jews to warn of Fascist-like street thuggery.

Ugly Memories

The hundreds of protesters, who had marched down a main shopping street in London to promote a boycott of Israel during a busy shopping day, picketed the Donutelier shop, which is owned by the Roladin chain of bakeries in Israel and was opened last year.

“These protests constitute yet another step in accentuating the comparison between the Jew-hating thugs in the so-called ‘pro-Palestinian’ marches and the actions of the Nazis in pre-war Germany and Austria,” Gary Mond, the chairman of the National Jewish Assembly, told JNS. “Next they will return during working days and link hands to stop customers or suppliers from entering Jewish-owned stores.”

A Wake-Up Call?

Whereas anti-Israel protests take place routinely in London, few public actions involving many participants have targeted Israeli-linked businesses.

Mond called the resent rally outside the donut store “yet another wake-up call to governments to act against hate before it is too late.” By, he added, “Sadly, I fear that they won’t.”

The march’s licensed trajectory was from near Piccadilly Circus, along Haymarket, and terminating at Trafalgar Square. However, hundreds of protesters appeared to have splintered off the march and walked up north to Charing Cross Road to picket the Donutelier eatery.

The Metropolitan Police did not reply in time for publication to a query by JNS on their handling of the picketing outside Donutelier.