Hundreds protest over antisemitism outside UK Labour headquarters

The complaint accuses Corbyn of bringing his party into disrepute for dismissing antisemitism and flags his membership in several social media groups used as platforms for antisemitic posts.

By TAMARA ZIEVE
Updated: APRIL 9, 2018 11:38
Protesters participate in a demonstration against antisemitism in Parliament Square in London, Britain, March 26, 2018 (photo credit: HENRY NICHOLLS/REUTERS)
Protesters participate in a demonstration against antisemitism in Parliament Square in London, Britain, March 26, 2018
(photo credit: HENRY NICHOLLS/REUTERS)
Two weeks after the landmark “enough is enough” protest against antisemitism allegations surrounding the Labour Party, hundreds of Brits joined a demonstration organized by NGO the Campaign Against Antisemitism, demanding that Labour hold party leader Jeremy Corbyn to account.
Protesters held banners with slogans such as "zero tolerance for antisemitism," "Labour: Hold Corbyn to Account" and one poster read "2018 is the new 1939."
British Jews criticise Labour"s Corbyn over antisemitism, March 27, 2018 (Reuters)
The protest was held on Sunday afternoon outside the Labour Party Head Office in London.
The protest comes just days after Board of Deputies of British Jews President Jonathan Arkush and Jewish Leadership Council Chair Jonathan Goldstein accepted Corbyn’s invitation to arrange a meeting.
The Board of Deputies and the JLC has asked the Campaign not to go ahead with the protest and Gideon Falter, Chairman of the Campaign Against Antisemitism, tweeted last week that his organization was considering whether to postpone the event. "The question is whether to keep the pressure up or pause to see how things develop," he tweeted, later deciding to go ahead with the demonstration.
The Campaign Against Antisemitism denounced Corbyn to the Labour Party in a comprehensive disciplinary complaint submitted two weeks ago, but have said that without any detailed investigation, new General Secretary of the Party Jennie Formby issued an initial rejection of the complaint. The complaint accuses Corbyn of bringing his party into disrepute for dismissing antisemitism and flags his membership in several social media groups used a platforms for antisemitic posts.
The Campaign Against Antisemitism said hundreds of people signed forms backing its disciplinary complaint.
Addressing the crowd, actress Maureen Lipman CBE, Holocaust survivor Agnes Grunwald Spier MBE, and Rabbi Joseph Dweck demanded that the Labour Party accept and enforce Campaign Against Antisemitism’s disciplinary complaint against Jeremy Corbyn for bringing Labour into disrepute.
The NGO plans to hold another protest if the Labour Party does not progress the complaint within a month.
Gideon Falter, Chairman of Campaign Against Antisemitism said in a speech: "Two weeks ago, the Jewish community and those non-Jews who heroically stand with us, demonstrated against antisemitism in the Labour Party, saying in a loud and clear voice that enough is enough. And yet in the two weeks since, Labour has contrived to make matters even worse. Shame on the Labour Party, that it has come to this, a national demonstration outside their own headquarters."
"Today we demand that antisemites and those who let them thrive in any political party, including the Labour Party, must face the consequences under a fair, efficient and transparent disciplinary system, and that must apply from bottom to top, starting with Jeremy Corbyn himself," he said.