‘Remove Palestinian flag from London Marathon’

Race stewards at Sunday’s London Marathon tried to prevent a group of spectators from flying the Palestinian flag.

The incident, which was captured on video, shows two race stewards of the Virgin London Marathon instructing spectators to stop flying the Palestinian flag.

The group, told MEMO that they had gathered in support of Palestinian runner, Mohammad AlQadi, who was running the London Marathon dressed as a chef. AlQadi was running his 8th Marathon this year and was attempting a world record for being the fastest Marathon runner dressed as a chef.

Speaking to MEMO about the row with the steward, activist Damian, mentioned that their group gathered at a meeting point after AlQadi crossed the finish line, which was next to the location of the UK charity Sense, whom he was running for.

Damian, who also goes by the name Cockney Activist, did not want to give his surname for fear of being “trolled by serious Zionists to a point that it impacted on [my ]private life” he said.

Damian mentioned that the group had been waving the Palestinian flag along the course and that they saw Swiss, Czech, French and German flags amongst others.

They were approached by a couple of stewards who told them that they needed to put the flags away, which is when Damian started filming the video.

The group can be heard protesting the steward’s demand asking why the Palestinian flag was being singled out, and why they were being denied the right to fly the flag in a public space.

No reason was given by the steward for singling out flying of the Palestinian flag, except to tell the police officer, who had been called by the steward, that “his company” had called and told them to have the flags taken down.

It is not clear from the video, if the “company” is Virgin Money or a separate security company employed by the sponsor.

The 50 second clip does not include footage of the decision taken by the police officer, but the Cockney Activist tweeted later that the officer had allowed them to fly the Palestinian flag.

Respect to the police who told us we could keep our flags flying 🙂

— ໓ค๓iคຖ (@CockneyActivist) April 23, 2017

Damian told MEMO that after the video ended, the police officer asked the stewards why the flag should be put away but the steward only replied by saying that he had been ordered over the radio to tell Damian and his group of supporters to put the flags away.

The officer asked why but the steward said he did not know. Failing to give an explanation, Damian said that “the police officer told the stewards that they would not tell us to put the flags away and that we had every right to fly them”.

The London Marathon is a global event with thousands of people taking part. Many thousands also come to watch by lining up along the route, flying flags of all nations in support of the runners.

MEMO contacted Virgin London Marathon organisers about the incident but there was no one in the press and media office to give a statement.

The incident left many people angry, calling it a disgrace and wanting to know if this was an official stance of the London Marathon organisers.

Disgraceful behaviour by @LondonMarathon people. Would you like to confirm whether this is an official stance? #Palestine @Livfop

— Penbedw (@Penbedw) April 24, 2017