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Thousands of Israel supporters outnumber protesters at Nova film screening in Finchley

There was a small anti-Israel protest at the Phoenix cinema in East Finchley

May 23, 2024 22:39
23.5.24 Pro-Israel rally outside Phoenix Cinema in East Finchley
Thousands of pro-Israel supporters stood outside the Phoenix Cinema in East Finchley, north London, in support of the cinema screening "Supernova", an Israeli documentary about the massacre of 360 people at the Supernova music festival (Photo: Gaby Wine)
3 min read

The Jewish community “reclaimed the streets” this evening as over 2,000 people demonstrated outside the Phoenix Cinema in East Finchley, north-west London, to show solidarity with its decision to screen an Israeli documentary about the October 7 terrorist attacks.

The pro-Israel crowd, which stretched down East Finchley High Rd, had anticipated a much larger protest from anti-Israel activists. But, in the event, the anti-Israel group, which numbered around 50 people, was dwarfed by the Israel supporters, who waved huge Israeli flags, held posters calling for the return of the hostages and started Israeli dancing in the street as traffic came to a stand-still.

In the past week, a protest against the screening of Supernova – a documentary about the Hamas massacre of 360 people at the Supernova music festival – had been widely publicised.

One of many placards at the protest outside the Phoenix Cinema (Photo: Gaby Wine)[Missing Credit]

Last night, protesters graffitied “Say no to artwashing” in large red lettering on the front of the iconic cinemam and this afternoon, film-makers Ken Loach and Mike Leigh stepped down from their roles as patrons of the Phoenix in protest against the cinema showing films from Seret, the festival of Israeli cinema, which, together with UJIA, was hosting tonight’s screening.