Supporters cheer Holocaust survivor questioned by police over Gaza protest
Protesters gathered on Friday outside a London police station in support of an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor questioned as part of an investigation into alleged public order offences during a pro-Palestine demonstration.
Walking up the gentle slope from the Strand with the aid of a stick, and wearing a grey overcoat, a green scarf and a flat cap, Stephen Kapos smiled and waved as he passed through cheering supporters and up the steps into Charing Cross Police Station at 2.40 pm.
Supporters waved Palestinian flags and chanted 'Stop bombing Gaza, we have the right to protest.'
Among them was at least one other Holocaust survivor and a number of descendants of survivors who unfurled a banner which read: 'Holocaust survivor descendants against genocide'.
Mark Etkind, the son of a survivor of the Lodz ghetto and the Buchenwald concentration camp, told Middle East Eye it was 'absurd' that Jews such as Kapos were facing 'persecution by the police' for protesting against the war in Gaza.
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Etkind said: 'As we speak, the ceasefire has collapsed and, if Stephen was here now, and he can't be because he is being interviewed in that building by the police, he would be begging the world to protest and stop this genocide because that is the prime lesson we should all learn from the Holocaust.'
Disputed charges
Kapos is among a number of people who have been questioned under caution by police in connection with a pro-Palestine demonstration on 18 January when dozens of protesters were detained and arrested.
Police have accused protest leaders and other prominent figures of breaching conditions imposed on the demonstration by breaking through police lines from Whitehall into Trafalgar Square.
Organisers have disputed this, saying that they were invited by police to 'filter through' into Trafalgar Square where dozens were then detained and arrested.
'[Stephen] is not in a physical state to break through any line never mind a police line. If it wasn't so serious it would be quite funny'
- Agnes Kory, Holocaust survivor
They say they were subjected to 'heavy-handed and aggressive policing'.
Kapos was photographed during the 18 January demonstration carrying flowers and a placard which read: 'This Holocaust survivor says: Stop the genocide in Gaza!'
The Metropolitan Police told MEE that so far 21 people have been charged over alleged breaches of Public Order Act conditions.
Both Chris Nineham, the chief steward of the demonstration, and Ben Jamal, the head of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, have pleaded not guilty and are set to stand trial later this year.
A number of others who attended the demonstration have also been questioned under caution by police, including MPs Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell.
Born in Budapest in 1937, Kapos spent much of his childhood in hiding as Jews faced deadly persecution and later deportation to the Nazi death camps during the Second World War.
He has regularly attended marches in solidarity with Palestinians since Israel's war on Gaza began.
Agnes Kory, 80, said of Kapos's questioning by police: "If it wasn't so serious it would be funny." (Simon Hooper/MEE)
Sitting on the wall outside the police station and offering MEE the fold-up canvas stool that she had brought with her, Agnes Kory, another Hungarian-born Holocaust survivor, explained why she had come to support Kapos.
She said: 'I think he is being intimidated because, being a Holocaust survivor, he is a strong opponent of the view that Jewish people are threatened by the demonstrations for Palestine.'
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Kory, who is 80, was born in early 1945 in Budapest, when her mother was in hiding and her father had already been deported to his death at the Mauthausen concentration camp.
She expressed scepticism about the allegation that Kapos had broken through a police line in Trafalgar Square, given his age.
'He is not in a physical state to break through any line never mind a police line. If it wasn't so serious it would be quite funny,' Kory said.
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: 'As part of our ongoing investigation into alleged breaches of Public Order Act conditions on Saturday, 18 January we have invited a further eight people to be interviewed under caution at a police station.
'While we are aware of names being attributed to those who have been invited for interview, we do not confirm the identity of anyone under investigation.'
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