Brisbane BDS protesters in a pickle
ANTI-ISRAEL protesters were asked to leave a Woolworths supermarket after removing Israeli products from the shelves in Brisbane earlier this month.
ANTI-ISRAEL protesters were asked to leave a Woolworths supermarket after removing Israeli products from the shelves in Brisbane earlier this month.
A YouTube video shot on June 1 and uploaded by Justice for Palestine Brisbane shows Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) activists pulling Eskal pickled cucumbers off the shelves as one protester comments: “I have all their apartheid biscuits as well.”
The clip then cuts to a scene at the front of the store where another protester states: “This economy prioritises pickles above human lives”, and calls on the supermarket chain to “remove all Eskal products from its shelves”. An employee is seen asking the protesters to leave the store before police move in.
The group also protested outside the Myer centre, which houses a Seacret cosmetics store, and outside David Jones, which stocks the product Soda Stream – the maker of which is headquartered in Israel.
Queensland Jewish Board of Deputies president Jason Steinberg said while everyone was entitled to express their views, “going into a business and trying to prevent them from selling their goods which they have a right to do, that’s crossing the line”.
“There were some very obviously vehement messages against Israel which are totally unfounded and not showing both sides of the story,” he said. He added that the average Queenslander wasn’t interested in the BDS message and just wanted to go about their shopping.
A spokesperson for Queensland Police said there was no official record of the incident from either the duty supervisor or the Major Events Planning Unit.
The AJN understands the police moved on without any further incident.
Woolworths spokesperson Benedict Brook said: “We are aware of an incident in Woolworths Macarthur Chambers on June 1. Local police were in the store at the time and the protesters moved on relatively quickly. Our priority is always the safety of our customers and we ensured this was the case at the time.”
GARETH NARUNSKY
A YouTube screen grab of the protestors.
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