SUPPORTERS gathered outside the Westminster Magistrates’ Court today as Palestine protest organisers pleaded not guilty to charges, highlighting that they are “the accusers, not the accused.”

Stop the War Coalition chairman Alex Kenny and Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament general secretary Sophie Bolt are accused of failing to comply with conditions imposed by the Metropolitan Police on a demonstration held on Whitehall on January 18.

The Met previously claimed that some protesters had attempted to breach the conditions by marching out of the agreed protest area.

Both campaigners confirmed their identities and entered not guilty pleas.

District Judge Nina Tempia granted them unconditional bail ahead of a two-day trial set for March 10 and 11 2026 at the City of London Magistrates’ Court.

Outside the court, dozens of supporters gathered in solidarity, chanting and holding signs.

On a small stage nearby, Mr Kenny quoted the Scottish socialist John Maclean, telling the crowd: “We stand here today as the accuser, not the accused, and we should always bear that in mind.

“We’re accusing the state of complicity in a genocide, and we don’t accept any wrongdoing or guilt on our part.”

He warned of a growing crackdown on protest rights, saying that there is a “concerted effort to squeeze our ability to speak up about Palestine.”

“We know that this is happening because we’ve built a mass movement that, despite the smears, lies and intimidation, will not be silenced and is not going away,” he said.

“We are the voice of majority opinion in this country, and history will prove us right and our politicians wrong.”

Calling for continued mobilisation, Mr Kenny urged people to join the next national demonstration on August 9.

Ms Bolt said: “We know that this is an attack on the movement, and it’s because we have been so effective.

“We will continue to protest against this genocide. We won’t allow these court cases to take our focus away from our solidarity and our essential campaigning for Palestinian rights and for the end of the genocide.”

Stop the War Coalition convener Lindsey German said the pair were “just the latest” in a growing list of people targeted “for daring to demonstrate in support of the Palestinians.”

She said: “On January the 18th, people were arrested because they tried to lay flowers outside the BBC.

“They were arrested because they physically wanted to protest over the plight of the Palestinians.

“[Every day] since January, we see on our television screens pictures of people dying of starvation, babies dying of starvation.

“This is something everybody could have predicted when [Prime Minister] Keir Starmer said 20 months ago [that] Israel has the right to deny food and electricity to the Palestinian people.”

Ms German warned that the repression of protest would not stop them.

“The right to protest is under attack in a way that it has not been, I think, probably in my lifetime, certainly since the miners’ strike,” she said.

“They will [come] for trade unions … for people protesting over housing.

“We have to say, people in this country fought for hundreds of years for the right to protest, the right to vote, the right to join the trade union, the right to be able to have free assembly.

“We are not going to give it up.”

Ms German also called for a mass turnout for the upcoming actions, saying: “Join the pots-and-pans protest on Friday night, like the brilliant one outside Downing Street last week.

“And on Saturday, join our emergency national demonstration to say: stop arming Israel, stop starving Gaza.”

Protests will take place across towns and cities today as part of a national day of action, with demonstrators banging pots and pans to draw attention to famine conditions in Gaza.