Protester throws box of painted mice into McDonald's shouting 'Free Palestine'
A video has emerged showing a pro-Palestinian protester throwing a box of rodents into a branch of McDonald's while shouting "free Palestine".
A video widely circulated on social media shows boxes of mice painted black red, white and green – the colours making up the Palestinian flag – being thrown into the branch at Birmingham's Star City Complex.
As he empties the boxes onto the floor in front of shocked customers, the video shows the man shouting: "Free Palestine."
The video has appeared in various forms on social media, including TikTok and X.
Another subsequent video reportedly shows workers at the branch trying to get the rodents out of the store.
A McDonald’s spokesperson said: "We are aware of an incident in our Birmingham Star City restaurant last night. The restaurant has been fully sanitised and our pest control partners have been called out to conduct a full inspection.”
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The protest comes after thousands of people joined a pro-Palestinian protest in central London at the weekend, calling for an to the conflict in Gaza.
Some protesters were chanting "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free", despite controversy around the slogan's meaning.
'Fearful time' for Jews
In a round of interviews on Monday, higher education minister Robert Halfon said it is a “fearful time” for Jewish people in the UK, amid “ever-increasing” incidents of antisemitism on university campuses.
He told Times Radio: "It’s frightening for Jewish people in England at the moment, you know."
He added: "When you hear that Jewish schools have to close their doors, when you hear of students – I am the universities minister as well – I get messages from Jewish chaplaincy service in higher education that Jewish students are having Palestinian flags draped over their cars or doors knocked on of the Jewish chaplain with people knocking on doors saying ‘we know where you live’."
Rise in antisemitic incidents
Figures released by a Jewish security group in recent weeks suggested that Antisemitic incidents in the UK have increased by almost 600% since Hamas’ attack on Israel.
The Community Security Trust (CST), which represents British Jews on issues of racism and policing, said it had recorded 320 antisemitic incidents between 7 and 16 October - a sevenfold increase on the 47 recorded over the same period last year.
CST said 15 of the 320 incidents recorded were assaults, 14 referred to damage to Jewish property and 244 were related to abusive behaviour, with 86 taking place online.
Examples included: a threat made over the phone; “Free Palestine, kill Jews” shouted at the heart of a Jewish community in London; and schools vandalised with red paint.
In a blog post, CST said: “These are all instances of anti-Jewish racism, wherein offenders are targeting Jewish people, communities and institutions for their Jewishness.
“In many cases, these hateful comments, threats to life and physical attacks are laced with the language and symbols of pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel politics.
“Even compared to periods of previous conflicts involving Israel, these statistics are unprecedentedly high."
