UK: Brain tumour survivor protests for Gaza outside Downing St

A brain tumour survivor is carrying out a one-person protest outside the British prime minister’s residence in to call for the end of arms sales to Israel over its war on Gaza.

Since 2 November, Chris Spencer-Smith has set up camp outside 10 Downing Street, saying he will be there for a week. He is a member of the Palestine Solidarity Movement (PMS).

“I’ll be undertaking individual action in London for seven days and seven nights which I have branded as Stand Up for Palestine,” Spencer-Smith says in a short video he shared on X late last month, where he received praise.

“There’ll be a lot of content, words, clumsily read poems, interviews with the public,” he said, calling on people to participate in his protest if they can.

“For me this isn’t about politics or religion, it’s about humanity and justice,” Spencer-Smith says in a short video he shared on his X account late last month, talking about his plans.

“This is a peaceful action and I’m not looking for a fight and will not harass anyone. Hopefully the responses will be the same,” he added, inviting people to take part by sharing the hashtag #standupforpalestine.

Spencer-Smith is disabled and lives with a brain injury after having suffered from a tumour. He mentions in his video that he cannot stand up for long periods of time.

Despite his health challenges, PMS said in a press release he “remains resolute in his demand for the government to cease arms sales to Israel and implement sanctions against the Israeli regime.”

The Bournemouth native called on the British government to stop arming Israel and take a stand for Palestinian rights, condemning the loss of innocent lives in Gaza, according to the press release.

“I want everyone to ask themselves this: What if it were your family and your community being relentlessly bombed? What if it were your children’s school being attacked? What if it were your local hospital being bombed?”

PMS voiced full support for their member’s protest as it too called on the British public to support him in his demand for action.

Since the start of the Gaza war on 7 October last year, countless marches have reached 10 Downing Street to call on the British government to end arms sales to Israel and do more to pressure it to stop its brutal war on Gaza.

The UK has been a staunch supporter of Israel in its war on Gaza. But unlike the US, Britain’s government does not give arms directly to Israel but rather issues licences for companies to sell weapons, with input from lawyers on whether the sales comply with international law.

Last month, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said his country was immediately suspending 30 of its 350 arms export licences to Israel because there was a risk such equipment might be used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law.

At least 43,469 people have been killed and more than 102,000 others have been wounded in Gaza as a result of Israel’s indiscriminate war. 

The war has left the Palestinian enclave in ruins and has displaced nearly all its population of just over two million. For weeks, a ferocious Israeli offensive has left thousands in northern Gaza at “imminent risk of death,” the UN says, calling the conditions there “apocalyptic”.

Israel is believed to be implementing a “General’s Plan” in northern Gaza designed to kill or expel the remaining inhabitants. Dozens of people are being killed every day.