Jewish activists warn UK protest crackdown will stoke antisemitism

When Zoe Cohen was hauled away by police officers for holding a handwritten sign in support of the now-proscribed direct action group Palestine Action, she could not hold back her tears.

“As they picked me up, all the emotion of the day, and not just the day, but the collective grief and the distress of what’s happening in Gaza, it just came out of me. I was sobbing,” she previously told Middle East Eye.

Now, with UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announcing fresh protest restrictions in the wake of a deadly attack on a synagogue in Manchester on Thursday, Cohen’s grief, and her fears for her safety, have intensified.

“As a Jewish person, I've never felt more scared,” Cohen told MEE.

“But I feel scared because of this endless conflation of criticism of the state of Israel with antisemitism."

Read more: Jewish activists warn UK protest crackdown will stoke antisemitism