Protesters rally outside Guardian HQ over Gail’s row and antisemitism claims
Dozens demonstrate at King’s Cross offices after controversial op-ed on vandalised bakery sparks backlash
Dozens of protesters gathered outside The Guardian’s headquarters on Wednesday, accusing the newspaper of downplaying antisemitism following a controversial column about attacks on a north London bakery.
Demonstrators assembled outside the paper’s King’s Cross offices, holding placards and posters showing pictures of Nazis enforcing boycotts of German Jewish shops, emblazoned with the words “Are we really here again? Stop the new hate movement”
The protest was triggered by an opinion piece about repeated vandalism at a Gail’s branch in Archway, which has been targeted with smashed windows and graffiti, including “reject corporate Zionism”.
Gail’s, founded by an Israeli baker in the 1990s, has recently become a flashpoint for protests, with activists targeting the company over its links to Bain Capital, a private equity firm that invests in Israeli defence and cybersecurity companies – claims the business has previously pushed back on.
The column, written by Guardian journalist Jonathan Liew, described the incidents as “small acts of petty symbolism” – wording that has since been removed by the publication.
In response, protestors outside the Guardian’s premises were carrying Gail’s bags and coffee cups, many having the words “a small act of petty symbolism” emblazoned on them.
Those attending the protest said the article failed to recognise the seriousness of antisemitic incidents and reflected a wider problem in media coverage.
As reported by The Telegraph, Eve Kay, a local resident who attended a separate protest in Archway, said The Guardian was “caught up in an anti-Semitic, anti-Zionist mindset”.
She said: “That means that they can’t really see that there is a huge avalanche of racism, a tsunami of racism against Jews, and so they find it hard to acknowledge and to report on, and they don’t even realise when they’re doing it themselves.
“I think they’ve lost their moral and political bearings, quite frankly.”
Mark Birbeck, founder of the campaign group Our Fight, who also attended the demonstration, told the Telegraph that Liew’s column symbolised what was seen as the “acceptable end of a very dangerous trend”.
He added: “The problem I think we have here is that the Guardian doesn’t recognise that, it is not accepting that, and so most of its coverage seems to be, in my view, biased, and covering up this anti-Semitism in plain sight.”
Protest organiser and GB News presenter Josh Howie said the demonstration reflected growing frustration within the Jewish community.
He said: “This is just the latest minimisation of anti-Semitism from The Guardian, and I think the Jewish community are feeling very beleaguered.
“The Guardian, which is a paper that I used to write for, who are ostensibly anti-racism, have spent years not just minimising racism, but arguably actually sanitising it.”
The protest comes amid wider criticism of the newspaper from politicians and communal organisations.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews said readers “deserve to know” why the article was published, adding: “It is not acceptable to refer to the opening of a bakery as an act of ‘aggression’ on the basis of the ethnic, religious or national ties of its founders, or to justify importing conflict onto our streets on the basis of those characteristics.”
The Guardian has since amended the column, removing the phrase referring to the vandalism and saying the change was made to “avoid misunderstanding”.
Staff were warned ahead of the protest, with security measures in place at the building.
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