David Lammy has speech interrupted three times by Palestine activists | UK News

Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy was interrupted three times by pro-palestine protesters as he attempted to deliver a speech on foreign policy.

Mr Lammy was addressing the Fabian Society conference on foreign policy when two flag-waving demonstrators mounted the stage shouting: ‘When will you condemn the genocide? How many more children need to die?’

As security officials ushered them off stage, Lammy attempted to continue his speech but was interrupted yet again as more people in the audience stood up to demand a ceasefire in Gaza and launch verbal attacks on the Labour party’s stance on the Middle East conflict.

‘David Lammy, you should be ashamed of yourself,’ shouted one of the protestors, referring to Labour’s shifting position on the conflict.

‘We really need a ceasefire, people are dying,’ they said as they were led out of the venue.

In response to the heckling, the Labour frontbencher told the audience in London’s Guildhall: ‘We all want to see a sustainable ceasefire in Gaza.

‘I want change through power, not through protest.’

In a statement, the Free Palestine Coalition took credit for the disruption and said some of its activists infiltrated the think tank’s gathering to ‘call out’ the politician’s position on Gaza.

‘As a former lawyer, Lammy should know better than to falsely claim that an occupying power has the right to “defend itself” against a territory it occupies,’ the network of grassroots groups said in a statement.

‘It is difficult to see how Lammy is upholding any commitment to human rights or international law as we enter into the 106th day of Israel’s unrelenting assault on Gaza.’

In his speech, Mr Lammy went on to express support for a Palestinian state when the war ends and branded Benjamin Netanyahu’s rejection of the plans morally and practically ‘wrong’.

‘The peaceful quest for a Palestinian state is a just cause and the only path to guarantee a just and lasting peace for both Israelis and Palestinians,’ he said.

‘The Israeli government must immediately change their approach. From the pain and despair, new will and a new political process must emerge to make two states a reality.’

His speech came after an address from London mayor Sadiq Khan, who criticised Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu as being a ‘roadblock to peace’.

‘It should worry us that the Israeli prime minister and members of his cabinet have walked away from a two-state solution,’ he told the Fabien society audience.

‘I think it’s really important to recognise when you look across the globe, whether it’s South Africa, whether it’s Sri Lanka, whether it’s on our doorstep in Ireland and Northern Ireland, it is possible to achieve peace.

‘It is possible for people who in decades before hated each other, killed each other, to live side by side.

‘It won’t be possible with the roadblock we’ve got with Netanyahu.’

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