Hawzah News Agency- More Palestine solidarity hunger strikers in Britain have been hospitalized over the past week, as half of those taking part in the protest pass more than 50 days without food. While Keir Starmer’s administration continues to refuse engagement with the activists’ demands, health workers and family members warn of serious risks of death.
Many of the strikers have been imprisoned for over a year while awaiting trial for taking part in direct action in solidarity with Palestine. Their demands include an end to censorship in prison, including the withholding of calls and books; immediate bail for all Palestine Action prisoners; the deproscription of Palestine Action; the right to a fair trial; and the shutdown of all Elbit Systems sites in Britain.
Mainstream British media have been remarkably silent even as it has become apparent that the government might be prepared to watch young people die in custody. At the same time, solidarity actions have expanded.
Education trade unionists, including executive figures from the National Education Union (NEU) and the University and College Union (UCU), have joined calls for immediate government intervention. In an open letter, they not only demanded action to protect the hunger strikers’ lives and address their demands, but also linked their current treatment to a wider crackdown on students and education workers expressing solidarity with Palestine.
Health workers and artists have also mobilized in large numbers. More than 800 health professionals have signed an open letter warning British authorities of the dangers faced by the hunger strikers. Hundreds of Irish artists issued another appeal, endorsed by musicians KNEECAP and Fontaines D.C., as well as writer Sally Rooney. “Their decision to place their bodies on the line is a profound act of resistance – one that echoes the long histories of both Irish and Palestinian political prisoners who have used hunger strike as a non-violent act of sacrifice to assert their dignity in the face of state violence and repression'', the artists wrote.
Meanwhile, institutional repression against the Palestine solidarity movement in Britain continues to grow. On December 23, Prisoners for Palestine and Defend Our Juries reported new arrests during a lock-in protest in London addressing Aspen Insurance’s complicity in genocide.
Source: peoples dispatch
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