Grandmothers arrested at Palestine protest ‘robustly deny any criminal offence'

South Wales Guardian

6 hours ago

Sue Pentel and Martine McCullough were arrested earlier this year by police investigating an incident of criminal damage at a Barclays Bank in the city.
Ms Pentel, 72, was detained by officers along with Martine McCullough, aged in her 50s, on May 24 while protesting outside the bank in Castle Place over an incident at a previous protest at the bank on April 26.
The two attended Musgrave Street police station in Belfast city centre on Wednesday morning for the pre-arranged interview under caution.
Fellow campaigners staged a protest in solidarity with the women outside the station, with applause and calls of 'we're with you' as they arrived.
Solicitor Padraig O Muirigh, who represents the two women, said they 'robustly deny that they have committed any criminal offence'.
'Our clients have been involved in peaceful protests against the ongoing genocide in Gaza which has been ongoing now for 628 days,' he said.
'Today's interviews under caution follow their arrests on the 24th May 2025.
'My clients robustly deny that they have committed any criminal offence and maintain that they should not be subjected to criminal investigations for exercising their right to peaceful protest against the atrocities being committed in Gaza.'
He added: 'Our clients will robustly contest their innocence and defend their rights under the European Convention on Human Rights to freedom of assembly and expression if a decision is made to prosecute them.'
Jewish grandmother Ms Pentel is a high-profile campaigner against Israel's military offensive on Gaza.
Videos circulated online of the arrest of Ms Pentel indicate the alleged offence related to the placing of stickers on the bank's ATM machine.
Barclays has been a target for pro-Palestine protesters who claim the bank is linked to companies supplying weapons to Israel.
Barclays has previously addressed the criticism, saying it provides financial services to nine defence companies supplying Israel but does not directly invest in such firms.
The bank has said it has become the target of a disinformation campaign over its ties to defence companies.
Speaking earlier on Wednesday, Ms Pentel said they are 'proud to peacefully protest outside Barclays'.
'We've been doing it for the last eight months,' she said.
'To protest the genocide, to protest the violence, to protest the way that Israel feels its OK to starve children, to stop humanitarian aid while the world looks on.
'Well, we won't look on, we won't remain silent.'
She added: 'We understand that we've been asked to be interviewed under caution, and we're voluntarily going in about an incident on April 26 and all we can say is we're proud to demonstrate with our amazing colleagues every week outside Barclays.
'We have the right to peacefully protest, we want to thank our solicitor Padraig O Muirigh for his time and advice.
'We have the right to peacefully protest and we will continue to do it until the genocide stops.
'We're two grandmothers, when our grandchildren ask us what we did, we know what we'll say, we stood up, we spoke out, we weren't silent, and as a Jewish person I am absolutely ashamed of anybody either Israeli Jewish or London Jewish or wherever who doesn't stand up and who thinks this is OK.'