At anti-gentrification demonstration, Israeli entrepreneurs among foreigners accused of destroying local communities
Hundreds of anti-gentrification protesters marched through London’s East End on Saturday and attacked and vandalized a local cafe, accusing foreigners — including Israelis — of destroying the local community.
Demonstrators carried pigs’ heads and torches as they marched through Shoreditch. The word “Scum” was painted on the windows of the Cereal Killer cafe, and the owner said customers were terrified and feared for their lives as protesters hurled paint and cereal at the windows.
A Facebook page for the event, titled “Fuck Parade 3″ by organizers, declared:
“Our communities are being ripped apart — by Russian oligarchs, Saudi sheiks, Israeli scumbag property developers, Texan oil-money twats and our own home-grown Eton toffs,” it said. Organizers claimed developers were forcing working-class people out of their homes.
“Soon this City will be an unrecognisable, bland, yuppie infested wasteland with no room for normal (and not so normal) people like us.”
The demonstrators vowed to “defend” their home against such “dog-eat-dog economics.”
Alan Keery, owner of the cafe, told the London Standard: “There were children there — they were terrified. The staff were absolutely terrified.” He said customers and staff barricaded the doors as the establishment fell under attack.
“If you want to talk about gentrification and different classes, you don’t go about attacking independent businesses who are putting their whole life on the line to open a business, you go to the conglomerates and big companies,” he later told the Guardian.
Police said there were several clashes between officers and protesters during the event, and one person was arrested on suspicion of a criminal offense. One policeman was injured in the face.
As reported by The Times of Israel