THERE CAN’T BE many Councils in the UK which have banned charities from using their local parks – but Tower Hamlets Council is one of them, with officers’ reasoning only being discovered after Freedom of Information Requests.
The Big Ride, a charity which raises funds for Palestinian children, has undertaken an annual fundraising bike ride for the last five years. This year it asked Tower Hamlets Council if the event to mark the end of the ride could be held in one of Tower Hamlets’ Parks. The Council refused.
The Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC) made a Freedom of Information Request to establish how Council officers had made their decision – only to discover that the main reason was a fear that the event might somehow be seen to be in conflict with the Council’s decision to adopt the IHRA’s definition of anti-semitism.
Ironically, members of the local PSC Group had warned the Council that its policy on using the IHRA definition of anti-semitism may be used to silence Palestinian events when that definition was adopted last year. Councillors assured them this was not the case.
Now PSC is determined to get to the bottom of whether the IHRA definition of anti-semitism can be used to quash events raising money for or awareness of the Palestinian people. It has written to Tower Hamlets Executive Mayor John Biggs and asked him to clarify the situation. His reply is awaited.
The local branch of the PSC is calling on supporters locally to sign a petition it has put on the Council website, calling on the Council to clarify the position.
•Sign the petition here: Petition
•The local branch is also calling on supporters to join the PSC, to help with this and other campaigns. Join or renew your membership here: Membership
•Read more about this story: Revealed: Tower Hamlets Council censors Palestine Bike Ride
•Read more about it: Biggs deep in controversy over political use of parks