19 June 2024 , 13:01
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Keir Starmer's wife felt "a bit sick" when she encountered a pro-Palestine demonstration outside their family home, a court has heard.
Victoria Starmer drove away in her car when she realised "people who were not agreeing with my husband" had gathered outside. Activists from the group Youth Demand hung a banner outside the London house that read: "Starmer stop the killing", surrounded by red hand prints, while rows of children's shoes were laid in front of the door on April 9, it is alleged.
Leonorah Ward, 21, of Leeds, Zosia Lewis, 23, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and Daniel Formentin, 24, of Leeds, are on trial at Westminster Magistrates' Court over the demonstration, charged with public order offences under Section 42 of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 and with breaching court bail.
Giving evidence at the trial in person, Mrs Starmer said: "I felt a bit sick, to be perfectly honest. I felt apprehensive and uncomfortable." She had just returned from a shopping trip with her son when they spotted the protesters, the court heard.
Mrs Starmer drove around the corner before contacting her husband's office because she "didn't want to stop and be obvious", she told the court. Asked by Andrew Morris, defending, if she knew it was a "peaceful protest", Mrs Starmer said: "It would look like a peaceful protest if it hadn't been outside my home."
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Put to her by Laura O'Brien, representing Ward, that she did not want the added publicity from the demonstration, she said: "That was absolutely not in my mind." Metropolitan Police Sergeant Mark Upsdale, who arrived at the scene at around 2pm and made the order for the arrests, also gave evidence at the trial.
Asked by prosecutor Jacob Hallam KC if the protesters were making their intentions known to the officers, he said: "They said there was a plan but 'we are not willing to tell you', or something to that effect." Sgt Upsdale said holding the protest outside somebody's house, instead of outside the House of Commons or Mr Starmer's offices, was "inappropriate". He added: "I did not know if they were going to be there 10 minutes or a day."
The court was shown footage shared on social media of the demonstration, which included clips of the three defendants speaking, and police body-worn footage of the protesters being arrested by officers outside the home. Section 42 powers cover the harassment of a person at their home address if an officer suspects it is causing alarm or distress to the occupant. Youth Demand describes itself as a "new youth resistance campaign fighting for an end to genocide".
Children's shoes have been used at a number of pro-Palestine demonstrations to signify the children killed in Gaza. The same group sprayed Labour HQ with red paint, and later claimed that 11 people had been arrested in relation to that incident. The three deny the charges, and the trial continues.