Member's statement: Gaza Protest Arrests
Member's statement by Mr Matthew O'Toole on .
- MLA
- Mr Matthew O'Toole
- Party at the time
- Social Democratic and Labour Party
- Date
- 27 May 2025
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Gaza Protest Arrests
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4971994
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Today, I want to reflect on an incident that happened in Belfast city centre over the weekend: two peaceful protesters outside Barclays bank on High Street were arrested by the PSNI. It is important to say that there is no more profound right in a democracy than peaceful protest. Over the weekend, dozens more innocent people lost their lives in Gaza as a result of bombardment by the Netanyahu regime. We are witnessing an ongoing genocide in Gaza. People from all over this region, from all backgrounds, of all ages and from all perspectives are, frankly, in complete disbelief at what they see on their screens. They want some way of registering protest and dissent and of challenging what is happening in the Middle East. One means is through peaceful protest. One of the people arrested is a woman named Sue Pentel, who is in her 70s. She also happens to be Jewish. She will be known to people here because she is often here peacefully and respectfully engaging with MLAs and others on the Middle East. Sue was standing peacefully next to an ATM. She put a sticker around that ATM, I believe, and was arrested for her trouble. I understand that the PSNI has a difficult job to do. I do not trivialise the fact that, sometimes, in fast-moving situations, there are judgements that have to be made by police officers, but I do not think that anybody, certainly not the dozens upon dozens of my constituents who are, frankly, appalled by what is happening in Gaza and have emailed me in the past few days to ask, "What the hell's going on in our society when peaceful protest is met with the arrest of pensioners?", would see that as a legitimate or proportionate response. I do not want to demonise individual police officers, who have a tricky job to do, but we are in the midst of witnessing a genocide. People in our society want to register peaceful protest. They also want their public representatives, whether at Westminster, at Stormont or on any platform that they have, to register opposition to what, many of them feel, will define their generation's response not just to human rights abuses but to ethnic cleansing and genocide. Peaceful protest in Belfast city centre, even if it is a minor inconvenience, should not be criminalised. I respect the fact that people may have different views, although I do not know how people could have a different view on what we are witnessing in Gaza, which is, transparently, a crime against humanity. That is legitimate, peaceful protest. Police officers have a job to do in all these circumstances — I respect that — but let us, please, be proportionate and respect the rights of ordinary people to register dissent and protest.
468 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.24 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- No identity-based framing was identified (0.87).
- Subject area: Religion and belief (including people of no religion), churches, faith communities and religious prejudice (including antisemitism and anti-Muslim prejudice).
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.10 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.04 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.04 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.06 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.30 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.47 | No |
| Overall judgement | 0.24 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 0.87 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.06 |
| Adopts it | 0.07 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Religion and belief (including people of no religion), churches, faith communities and religious prejudice (including antisemitism and anti-Muslim prejudice) | 0.91 |
| Immigration, asylum, race, ethnicity and Travellers | 0.04 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.03 |
| Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations | 0.01 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.01 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:33 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
Disagree with this assessment?
Classifications can be challenged. A person reads every challenge, and any change is recorded publicly above with its reason.