A senior Labour MP was forced to tell the crowd at Sunday’s rally against antisemitism in Manchester to stop heckling her after a group of demonstrators tried to drown out her speech by chanting “Corbyn out.”
Lucy Powell, the MP for Manchester Central and an outspoken critic of the Labour leader, interrupted her speech to tell the crowd: “You don’t need to heckle me because I am on your side.
Manchester Central MP @LucyMPowell responds to chants of Corbyn Out by saying: "You don't need to heckle me, I'm on your side" #EnoughIsEnough #LabourAntisemitism pic.twitter.com/dA1YExMrQf
— Joseph Timan (@josephtiman) September 16, 2018
“I am on your side 100 per cent. And I am here standing alongside you to show my support. This huge crowd will send an incredibly strong message – a message I will take back to Parliament, to the Labour Party and I take everywhere I go.
“You don’t need to heckle me.”
Ms Powell – who has regularly spoken out in support of Jewish colleagues such as Luciana Berger and Ruth Smeeth - later found herself being criticised by pro-Jeremy Corbyn supporters for her decision to attend the rally.
She tweeted: ”I attended a rally on antisemitism. I got heckled. I was there in support of challenging antisemitism so told people not to heckle me. End of. Nothing more to be said.”
Another source who attended the Manchester demo said:”The heckling of Lucy Powell was totally uncalled for. Some of these people don’t know who their friends are.”
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