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Pro-Corbyn activists to hold protest outside Labour HQ over ‘bogus’ antisemitism charges

Demonstrators will also demand the restoration of the Parliamentary whip for Jeremy Corbyn

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LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 18: Former Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn leaves his home on November 18, 2020 in London, England. Corbyn, former Labour Leader and MP for Islington North was suspended by the current Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, for downplaying the findings of the the Equalities and Human Rights Commission after it published a report into anti-semitism in the Labour Party. It found that the party had broken the law under Jeremy Corbyn's tenure as leader. 19 days after the suspension it has been overturned after a meeting of Labour's National Executive Committee with Starmer refusing to re-instate the party whip. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)

Labour activists will demonstrate outside their own party’s headquarters calling for the reinstatement of members suspended or expelled on what they claim are “bogus charges of antisemitism”.

Demonstrators will also demand the restoration of the Parliamentary whip for Jeremy Corbyn and publication of the Forde Inquiry findings.

In a call to action, the hard-left is mobilising against what it calls the “huge injustices” which hang over the party. 

It will increase pressure on embattled Labour leader Keir Starmer, who already faces calls to quit if the party loses the knife edge Batley and Spen by-election on July 1. 

The demonstration will take place on July 20 to coincide with the next meeting of Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee.

In what is expected to be a stormy session inside, protestors will gather outside Labour’s headquarters in Victoria in a show of strength from the hard-left. 

The event is being supported by Labour Against the Witch Hunt, Labour Campaign For Free Speech, the Labour Left Alliance and the Labour In Exile Network. 

A statement about the event, urges Labour members to turn up to protest the “travesty of democracy” within the party which “cannot go on”.

“The time has come to make our voices heard,” it adds, “We need to speak out against the huge injustices that hang over our party.”

The statement cites Labour’s withholding of the Parliamentary whip from Corbyn and calls for its restoration.   

The former leader was suspended last October after he claimed in the wake of the damning Equality and Human Rights Commission inquiry that antisemitism within Labour had been “dramatically overstated” by political opponents.     

Corbyn’s suspension was lifted just two weeks later by the NEC but the Parliamentary whip has been withheld and Labour sources say it is unlikely to be restored. 

Ian Austin, chairman of the cross-party campaign group against extremism Mainstream UK, said: “Never mind lifting the suspension of the whip.  If they want to win back the millions of lifelong Labour voters who turned away in disgust at the extremism and anti-Jewish racism that poisoned the party under Corbyn, they need to kick him and the other people responsible out for good.”

Activists will also be protesting about the suspension of CLP officials for defying the leadership and tabling motions in support of the former leader.

The leaflet also cites Keir Starmer’s promised purge of antisemitism from the party as a reason for protest.

“Hundreds of members remain suspended or expelled on bogus charges of antisemitism or ‘bringing the party into disrepute’”.

And it also targets the postponement of the Forde Inquiry report into what it says are “outrageous dirty tricks at the heart of the party”.

Martin Forde, QC, announced earlier this year that its conclusion into the ‘Labour leaks report’ had been delayed because the Information Commissioner’s Office was investigating the same leaks.

He warned the Forde Inquiry’s findings could have the potential to prejudice the ICO’s work and would only be released when the ICO had completed its investigation. 

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