Woman, 69, injured after being pushed by police officer at Palestine march

A 69-year-old woman was left needing hospital treatment after being pushed by a police officer at a march for Palestine.

Video footage from a protest in Swansea, south Wales on Saturday shows an officer shoving the woman, who was among hundreds of protesters calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Protesters had gathered outside Marks and Spencer to chant about boycotting the store due to its alleged ties to Israel, a claim M&S denies.

According to the victim, who has asked us to refer to her as D Murphy, she was at the front of the crowd when police blocked the entrance of the shop. The officer tried to get her to move but she had nowhere to go because she was standing next to a metal sign.

She told openDemocracy: “He continued to try and push me and I said: ‘I can’t move’. So in the end, he pushed me forcibly. And I fell on my left side [into the metal sign] and that's what I think did the damage.”

Murphy said as she righted herself, she felt a “pop” and feared her rib had been injured. It has since been confirmed at hospital that it was a muscular sprain. Murphy said she was then pushed again by the officer, causing her to fall to the ground. “I was very lucky, people picked me up very quickly,” she explained.

“I'm your typical granny figure, there was no way I was in any way threatening. I think that guy needs retraining, he shouldn’t be on the streets”.

Murphy told openDemocracy she was left shocked and in tears after what was until that point, a peaceful rally.

It's not the first time police have been accused of aggression at a march for Palestine. In November openDemocracy reported that a nine-year-old boy suffered a soft-tissue injury after allegedly being shoved by a Metropolitan Police officer at a march in London.

Any attempt at intimidation or silencing us will have the opposite effect

Nizar ‘Neezo’ Dahan – an international aid worker and activist from Swansea – was next to Murphy when the incident happened and witnessed it all.

Afterwards, he was among a group that stayed to question the officer.

“He denied it,” Dahan told openDemocracy. “He said: ‘I never touched her. I never pushed anyone. You guys are making it up’.”

South Wales Police said the force has received a complaint from a member of the public, which has since been referred to the Professional Standards Department.

Superintendent Mark Kavanagh said members of the public have the right to peacefully protest but that the protesters were causing “disorder” and “distress to shoppers and members of staff”. He did not comment directly on the push.

Dahan told openDemocracy many families with young children have attended Palestine marches in the area since 7 October, but some left early on Sunday after finding behaviour from the police “scary”.

“I think that's what they’re trying to do – they’re trying to intimidate people to make them feel like it’s no longer a safe environment or a safe space to come and protest for Palestine,” he said.

Murphy said: “Maybe they thought we were a flash in the pan,” adding: “Ordinary people are really touched by this, and I think it has the establishment rattled.

“Any attempt at intimidation or shutting us down or silencing any of us really will have the opposite effect because it's human lives at stake here. You might feel a bit scared but we can’t afford to let that stop us. When you think about what the people in Gaza are going through, getting pushed [and injured] is nothing.”