Protesters calling for Reading council to ‘stop funding the companies arming Israel’ were denied permission to speak at a recent meeting.
Dozens of protesters from the East Berkshire Solidarity Campaign attended the latest full meeting of Reading Borough Council.
They were hoping to push the council’s pension scheme to divest from companies accused of being used in the ‘Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.’
Sue Sibany-King, the branch secretary of the East Berkshire Solidarity Campaign asked to present her question about the management of pension investments at the meeting.
She said: “We have already asked if we can speak and because of your technical issues the questions wouldn’t arrive and now you’re telling us we can’t speak.
“I would have thought at least you could have given us two questions because we’ve come all this way we couldn’t call everyone off there are more outside and it would have been quite nice for you to say well while you’re here just ask your two questions.”
However, councillor Glenn Dennis (Labour, Kentwood), the Mayor of Reading stuck to protocol, refusing them the opportunity to ask the unannounced questions.
Ms Sibany-King replied: “This really will not reflect on Reading Borough Council.”
Cllr Dennis invited her to submit the questions and ask them at the next full council meeting.
A security guard approached Ms Sibany-King, who then ushered the campaigners away.
This was followed by chants of ‘Stop bombing Gaza!’ and ‘Stop killing children!’
Another protester sang: “There’ll be songbirds flying high over the Golan, and from the river to the sea!
“There’ll be joy and laughter, and peace ever after, the day when Palestine is free!”
Her song referred to the Golan Heights, part of Syria which Israel has occupied, and the call for ‘Palestine to be free’ from the River Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea.
The protesters then read out their questions in the hallway.
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign has accused the Berkshire Pension Fund, which manages the pensions of council staff, of investing in companies it says are linked to human rights violations in Palestine.
Management of the fund is scrutinised by a committee based at the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, with protesters attending the last meeting.
Ms Sibany-King asked whether the council would commit to giving its employees the opportunity to have input and share their feelings about the investments.
Fellow protester Rachel Luxton asked whether the council’s representative to the pension fund committee will demand that it divest process from “companies that profit from Israel’s illegal occupation, as a matter of urgency.”
The demonstration was held on Tuesday, March 25.
According to council rules, public questions should be submitted via email with a deadline of 12pm four working days before the meeting.
This is to give the relevant lead councillor time to provide a written response.
It was these rules that Cllr Dennis followed in denying the on-the-spot questions.
However, Ms Sibany-King maintains her were emails incorrectly sent into the spam folder of a democratic services officer’s inbox.
