A caged and cuffed ‘prisoner’ is part of an ongoing protest outside the Labour Party Conference in Manchester today – highlighting the treatment of Palestinians inside Israeli prisons.
The performance is part of a protest against the G4S, the British private security company who protestors claim provide and secure prisons which holds political prisoners in Israel.
G4S have come under fire for their dubious human rights record and the protest is to highlight the extensive use of the company by the British government.
Norma Turner of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign said: “The ideological drive by the British Government to privatise all public services leaves Britain at the mercy of being under the total control of companies such as G4S. There is no accountability, no training, no proper terms and conditions, and they are a serial human rights abuser here and worldwide.
‘INJUSTICE’: The protesters hope to bring attention to the plight of Palestinians in Israeli prisons
“As well as securing Israeli prisons that murder and torture Palestinian children, Jimmy Mubenga was unlawfully killed during deportation from the UK by G4S. Public funds were gained by G4S for electronically tagging dead people.”
She added: “They are guilty of grave misconduct however you describe it and they are not fit to have public contracts.”
The protest was also performed on Monday and will continue today from 10am outside Manchester Central conference hall.
A spokesman for G4S has denied any involvement with in the policing prison.
“G4S do not make any decisions regarding prisoners, the company is not involved in the prison or policing regime and have no interaction with prisoners at all,” a spokesman said.
“G4S said in June this year that it will end all its Israeli prison contracts within the next three years.”
Protestors claim that G4S provides prisons such as Ketziot and Megiddo, which hold Palestinian political prisoners from occupied Palestinian territory inside Israel.
Protesters argue that this contravenes Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits the transfer of prisoners from occupied territory into the territory of the occupier.
PROTEST: Security guards try to move on the ‘prisoner’
Ofer prison, located in the West Bank is also quipped by G4S, and human rights organisations have reportedly documented systematic torture and ill treatment of Palestinian prisoners, including children at Kishon and Moskobiyyeh detention facilities.
“The reality for Palestinian prisoners inside Israeli jails is in fact much worse,” said Adie Mormech of Manchester Palestine Action.
“G4S is securing Israeli prisons inside illegally occupied Palestinian land, child prisons where numerous human rights offences have been documented as well as the Israeli military checkpoints and the apartheid wall that help confiscate land from where Palestinians have been ethnically cleansed.
“For the Labour party and Labour councils to have so many contracts with G4S is aiding and abetting the horrors and injustice committed by the Israeli state against Palestinians every day. It has to stop.”
CAGED: The ‘prisoner’ complete cuffs is behind bars outside the conference
