A proposed talk by Colonel Geva Rapp, head of ground operations for the Israeli military in Gaza at the Union of Jewish Student’s London Student Centre yesterday was met by a large protest including student activists from University of London colleges.

A leaked e-mail, circulated by the organisers, described Rapp as: “deputy commander of ground forces in Operation Cast Lead in Gaza this month. Geva is the Founder and Director of Panim el Panim – an organisation committed to unity in Israel and the teaching of Jewish values amongst young Israelis in preparation for their army service.”

Those invited were asked not to talk about the event on Facebook in an attempt to keep the talk secret amongst London Jewish Societies and other invited guests due to “security concerns and current high tension surrounding the conflict.”

But a source told London Student: “No, he didn’t speak. As far as I know he wasn’t going to be able to make it from quite early in the evening and that this was not to do with the protests.”

However, the leaked e-mail saw a large contingent of protesters rallying outside the event.

Press were refused access to the talk and door staff, as well as organisers, denied any knowledge of Rapp speaking at the event.

With the number of protesters increasing, police called for the south side of Euston Road to be blocked off.

The protest was largely non-violent except for one incident in which a group, wearing hoods and covering their faces with bandanas, charged at the entrance of the London Student Centre pushing through police and hitting one of the attendees of the talk. The attendee retaliated and police also reacted aggressively, using violence to suppress the group.

Jen Jones, Goldsmiths College SU Campaigns and Communications officer, said: “A group of Goldsmiths students tried to get inside the building and when this happened the police began not simply stopping them or standing in their way but attacking the group trying to enter and also the entire crowd behind. The police were incredibly violent, I had my hair pulled, my ribs bruised and another student next to me was kneed in the face.”

The police made an attempt to move the protesters from outside the entrance of the London Student Centre and onto the other side of the road but the protesters quickly sat on the ground and held themselves against a railing facing the entrance to the event.

Jones continued: “After dragging people around for a while and attempting to shove us across the street, once we all sat on the ground they stopped trying to move us – I think they realized how bad it was looking, attempting to physically remove some peaceful protesters having what appeared to be a sit-in.”

A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said: “There was a protest and three males were arrested in connection public order offences. All protests are policed in a fair and equal way and we don’t take sides.”

The protesters remained outside the entrance calling chants of support for Palestine, of peaceful protest and of war crimes against Colonel Rapp.

Mariana Riddle, a 1^st year student of Development and Economics at SOAS, was protesting against Rapp’s talk because: “He’s performed war crimes attested to by Amnesty. We don’t think we can stay quiet while he is visiting… We don’t believe in him being here.”

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