Palestine protester 'assaulted' at Chorley Council meeting

In a video sent to the Lancashire Telegraph, Councillor Craige Southern, who represents Croston, Mawdesley and Euxton South, on Chorley Council, can be seen answering a question put by Jenny Hurley of the Chorley for Palestine group, before he appears to ‘shove her’ out of the room.

Jenny Hurley's question to be put to the council had supposed to be focused on housing stock and building in the borough.

In the video, Ms Hurley, who was speaking at the meeting on Tuesday night (February 27), asked the chamber: “Why has no motion been put to this chamber?

"We were told that they would be happy, the Labour group would be happy to put a motion to this chamber, why has that not happened?”

Cllr Southern then replies, saying: “Because it’s Chorley not bloody Gaza, get out, go on”, before he is seen ‘pushing’ Ms Hurley out of the room.

Protestors on the street outside the town hall (Image: Submitted)

The meeting then descended into chaos, and was adjourned as some councillors leave the chamber, the police arrive, and the protestors are ushered out of the building and into the street.

Councillors had been due to discuss the borough's finances before the interruption.

Councillor Alistair Bradley, leader of Chorley Council said, “We absolutely support and promote the free speech of all in our community along with peaceful demonstrations and protest.

“Council meetings are - and quite rightly - public forums, and any member of the public is able to attend to observe proceedings or ask questions.

“The Chorley for Palestine Group has attended our council meetings in the past, and they have of course been welcomed, provided they adhere to the rules surrounding public attendance and public questions.

“The council meeting on February 27 was temporarily suspended because the protocol around public questions was broken and in an attempt to diffuse what could become an unsafe situation for the public, staff and councillors.

“We are aware a police complaint has been raised in relation to an incident that took place at the meeting.”

A spokesperson for Lancashire Police confirmed the force has received a complaint of an assault at an event in Chorley on Tuesday, February 27. and an investigation is underway.

They added: "No arrests have been made at this stage and enquiries are ongoing."

A person holding a 'Chorley Borough Council: Silence on Genocide' sign (Image: Submitted)

Before the alleged incident, Ms Hurley had been given the opportunity to put a question to the chamber at the Special Council meeting at Chorley Town Hall, during which council tax and revenue budgets were planned to be discussed.

Public questions put to the council before Ms Hurley’s had included questions about bus shelters, housing, and garden waste.

In the allocated three minutes, which is the time given to each person wishing to ask a question during a public meeting, Ms Hurley broke protocol, after initially speaking about social housing, before launching into a speech about Gaza, Israel, and the conflict in Palestine.

Chief executive of Chorley Council, Chris Sinnott, interrupted and in an official council video posted on Chorley Council’s YouTube channel, Mr Sinnott can be heard saying: “Sorry, unfortunately, Jenny, I think we will need to, unless you stop, Jenny, I’m going to have to ask you to leave the meeting”, before he says, “I suggest we suspend the meeting so the members can leave the meeting via the parlour if they want to.”

The meeting was then adjourned, and the official Chorley Council recording of the meeting stopped.

Cllr Craige Southern (Image: Chorley Council)

In clips sent to the Lancashire Telegraph, Ms Hurley continued to speak to those councillors left in the chamber before she was joined by other protestors.

It was at this point Labour Councillor Karen Derbyshire, who represents Chorley South West ward, can then be heard singing, “lalalala, lalalala”, over the top of Ms Hurley, who, along with another protestor, were still talking about Gaza.

Labour Councillor for Coppull, Ryan Towers, then began chanting “Free, Free, Palestine”, which lasted around 20 seconds, before the ‘altercation’ with Cllr Southern occurred.

READ MORE: Chorley MP Sir Lindsay Hoyle under pressure after Gaza vote chaos

On February 21, Chorley MP Lindsay Hoyle outraged some MPs by breaking precedent to allow a vote on a Labour amendment to the SNP's Opposition Day motion calling for a ceasefire in Gaza amid MP safety concerns, and has since rejected further requests from the SNP for another ceasefire vote.

A spokesperson for the Chorley for Palestine group said: “Councillor Craige Southern, a Tory representative for Euxton South, Mawdesley and Croston, rushed at and attacked a Palestine campaigner who was asking a question about why the council were not discussing the situation in Gaza.

“Campaigners had attended the public council meeting to ask why, despite it being the policy of the Labour majority on the council, no public statement calling for a ceasefire in Gaza was being debated at the council.

“Chorley residents feel strongly that after the abuse of the procedure in the Commons last week, that our elected representatives should take a clear stand against the genocide being perpetrated in Gaza.

“After submitting public questions in advance, campaigners used their supplementary questions to ask about the lack of any public statement on Gaza.

“It was during the question that CEO Chris Sinnott shut down the council meeting and campaigners held up signs saying, “Chorley Borough Council: Silent on Genocide.”

“Cllr Southern then physically assaulted one of the campaigners, as can be seen in the video.”

Following the incident, Ms Hurley, said: “We want our council and our MP to represent us over a very serious issue.

“After the Labour group passed an internal motion calling for a ceasefire, we wanted to ask why no motion had been put to the council meeting.

“We decided to break the protocol of the meeting by peacefully asking councillors why they had avoided calling for a ceasefire.

“The response was to immediately shut us down.

“A council member then hit me, grabbed my clothes and pushed me out of the room until an usher and a member of the public stopped him.

“This was the response of Chorley Borough Council to a peaceful protest.

“We have already had our voice taken away by our MP, Lindsay Hoyle, who recently broke protocol to twice stop a ceasefire motion from the SNP in Parliament. Where is our voice now?

“Chorley for Palestine will continue to campaign to stop the genocide in Palestine. We expect our elected representatives to do the right thing and call for an end to genocide.”

On October 7, Hamas carried out a terrorist attack in Israel, killing more than a thousand people and taking hundreds of hostages. Since then, Israel defence forces have carried out a bombardment of Gaza, which it says have been targeted at Hamas sites, in which a reported 30,000 people, mainly civilians, have been killed.

The UK has backed humanitarian pauses in fighting to allow aid into Gaza and the release of hostages, and there are growing calls for a ceasefire across the world, however despite negotiations between the two sides no agreement has been reached.